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Catalonia in Spain: Europe's key struggle for democracy

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Resources: For English-language news and information sources on Catalonia, click here. For solidarity information click here. For an administrative map of Catalonia click here. For an explanatory note on this blog click here.

Translation: Unless otherwise specified, translations are by the European Bureau of Green Left Weekly and Links, International Journal of Socialist Renewal

Keeping up with Catalonia in English

• For an hour-by-hour update follow independent Catalan journalist Josep Goded on Twitter.
• For a daily update (Monday to Friday) watch the Catalan News Agency's Catalan News.
• For regularly updated news in English, go to the English-language sections of Ara, El Nacional, Vilaweb and El Punt Avui.
• For news in English from a generally Spanish-unionist viewpoint, go to the English-language section of El País, or the Spanish edition of The Local.
• For background articles and opinion pieces translated into English, check the daily Ara and Catalan News Monitor.
• For general news, sports, culture and opinion in English, check Catalonia Today.
• For both English-language original articles and translations of articles, opinion pieces and editorials, go to the Emma collective web site.
• Updates from the Catalan National Assembly's international office, in English and other languages.

Week ending February 10

Note: This blog has ended. Our new blog, covering the trial of the Catalan political prisoners and other movement leaders can be found here.

February 5

Background (Ara)

The chasm with Catalonia grows wider

The drive to seize back devolved regional powers is strongest in Castile, Aragon and the Madrid region

What sort of territorial organisation do you prefer? (CIS survey of opinion in the Spanish State)

1. A single central state or less autonomy?

2. A state of autonomous regions, as at present?

3. More self-government or independence?

Do many in Spain wish to return to the centralised administration system that was pervasive, for instance, during General Franco’s regime? Well, it would appear that way, even after nearly forty years of devolved regional powers. If we are to believe the latest report published by CIS, the Spanish government’s polling body, in Spain as a whole only 16 per cent would like the central government to scrap the system currently in place. But when you also consider that 12.1 per cent of respondents say they would like to see some powers taken back from Spain’s autonomous governments, you get a more significant 28.1 per cent. If we zero in on certain regions, we soon discover that some parts of Spain openly oppose the current system of autonomous regions. Specifically, nearly 50 per cent of respondents in Madrid, Cantabria, Castile and Aragon favour some form of regression. In Madrid’s case, for example, supporters of a recentralised administration outnumber those who prefer the current system or might even like regions to be granted additional powers.

Paradoxically, in the upcoming regional elections many Spaniards who oppose the current system will go to the polls and, for the first time, they will elect MPs (i.e. Vox) who propose scrapping the regional parliaments. It is not unlike the situation you get in the European parliament with eurosceptic groups, such as France’s National Front and Britain’s UKIP. We will see whether Spain’s political system can withstand the surge of Vox, the far-right party that longs for the mythical Spain from a time now long gone, with one single parliament, one central government and fifty provincial prefects.

The CIS poll paints a picture of a country split into three. We have already discussed the first group: those who favour recentralisation can be found mainly in Castile and Aragon, a region that claims to be a historic nation in its Statute, but now wants to relinquish self-rule. In the second group we have the regions that are content with the current state of affairs: the southern regions (Andalusia, Extremadura and Murcia), the Canary Islands and some regions where a language other than Spanish is also spoken (Galicia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands). In the last of the three groups we have Catalonia and the Basque Country, followed at a distance by Navarre, where the general feeling is quite the opposite: most respondents would like to be granted either greater powers or full independence.

Spain’s future politics will also need to be explained in terms of the public’s preferences on this matter. Any debate about a constitutional reform will also have to take into consideration that, according to the CIS poll, Spaniards who would like to amend the Constitution to limit regional powers outnumber those on the opposite camp. The figures show that the current system of uniform autonomous regions is seen as a failure in many parts of Spain, particularly in those regions where demands for self-rule were unheard of before 1978.

In this context, Catalonia and the Basque Country increasingly find themselves drifting further from the Spanish average, with starkly contrasting views on how territorial coexistence ought to be organised. Any political system that aims to live on must be able to adapt to reality and not the other way round. That is the reason why the “coffee for all” system, which was meant to cohere Spain into a whole, has had the exact opposite effect (1).

Translator’s note:

(1) In contemporary Spanish politics, the decision to divide Spain up into 17 regions (1978) is often referred to as “coffee for all” meaning that they were all given (mostly) similar devolved powers … whether they liked it or not.

Translation: Ara, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

Week ending February 3

February 3

• (El Nacional) Maduro: "Imagine if I gave the EU seven days to recognize the Catalan Republic"
• (El Nacional) Catalan prisoners stopped from bringing anything yellow into Madrid prison

February 2

• (El Nacional) ANC calls for "more direct actions" and "risk taking" as Catalan trial approaches

Hi, Podemos comrades:

A year ago I left my position as Secretary General of Podemos in Catalonia[i] but, regardless of  whether I share party membership with you, I’m still aware that it is critical in times like those we’re going through for Catalan democrats and those in the rest of the State to keep looking for ways to come together and to share struggles. That’s why I’m writing to you on the threshhold of the trials of the Catalan independence leaders. Please give me a few moments of attention because the future of all of you is also at stake in these trials.

The beginning of the trials will provoke something which for Podemos has always been a problem: instead of our message being about how the banks rob us, about the PP, about the IBEX 35[ii] and the rest of the gang, it will be about "the Catalonia business". I understand perfectly the feeling of powerlessness that this situation creates. And I also know how hard it is for you to defend the position of Podemos on Catalonia (plurinationality of Spain and a Catalan right to a referendum) in places like Extremadura, the two Castiles[iii] and Andalusia. I know it is hard to explain that although Podemos is not pro-independence, it is committed to a referendum. I know how hard it is to explain to our co-workers, family and neighbours that we can want a united Spain but at the same time strongly condemn the violence of October 1 and the jailing of the independence leaders. It has always been hard. The bad news is that from now on, with the trial under way,  it’s going to get a lot harder.

During the months that the trial lasts all the television coverage, the newspaper articles and the declarations of the politicians will revolve around Catalonia. There will be a competition to see who is the most Spanish-patriotic and it will be very, very hard to talk about anything else. The mass media run by the banks will repeat the word "coup" ad nauseam, the talk shows will rave about "CDR violence"[iv] and Casado, Rivera and Abascal[v] will have all the hours of television in the world to create a narrative that will be almost impossible to counter. Everyone will be talking about "the Catalonia business" while inequality and social injustice just keep on growing.

I know that many of you are asking what the best response is that you can give to this scenario that is bearing down on you at full speed. Speaking with many of you, I have seen that a fairly widespread strategy will be to resist the media tsunami, stand your ground on what is Podemos's raison d'être--social rights and exposing the issues that are buried in silence--while not getting too much into the Catalan question.

It's not up to me to make your decision for you or to give you advice. But I think that looking the other way and not actively engaging in the debate that will dominate the political landscape in the coming months would be a mistake of historical proportions. I sincerely believe that if all Podemos members do not take a clear and proactive position on the issue of these trials, Podemos will have been dealt its death blow. Put it another way: what is at stake in these trials against the Catalan independence leaders is our very existence. Effectively, this trial can ruin the lives of a handful of people whose political objectives we do not share. But if that happens, let no one doubt that Podemos will be finished forever. Let me explain.

In the early 1950s a trial against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg took place in the United States. The couple was accused of espionage and of revealing to the Soviet Union secrets about the manufacture of the atomic bomb. The Rosenberg were innocent, the trial was a set-up and they were both sentenced to death. There were demonstrations around the world, from Buenos Aires to Tokyo, from London to Moscow. World leaders of all kinds (including Pope Pius XII) asked for clemency. However, in spite of everything, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg died on June 19, 1953, electrocuted in the electric chair.

The trial has been studied for decades and for decades an explanation has been sought as to why the State did not back down on a sentence that was clearly unjust.

The answer was to be found not so much inside the courtroom as outside, in North American society at the beginning of the Cold War. The Rosenberg sentence was the starting point for manufactuting a political position that would dominate the United States during the following decades: the creation of "red terror", «the enemy within", "anti-American activities" and "the MacCarthyite witch hunt». Above all, this operation was carried out by pervading the population with a deep and unquestioning fear of any movement that might challenge the established order. A fear manufactured by politicians, judges, prosecutors, the media and politicians. A profound, uncontrollable and extremely effective fear, which in the years following allowed all kinds of political abuses and human rights violations to be committed against those who did not submit to "the official version". The Rosenberg case laid much of the foundation for this disaster.

And what does this have to do with Podemos and the trials of the independence leaders? In his book I Accuse[vi], lawyer Benet Salellas explains that the North American left was largely not enough involved in the defense of the Rosenbergs. Some of its leaders considered that if in any way they were linked to "nuclear espionage" the movement could be very much affected. And that they could therefore protect the popular movements by staying on the sidelines. And so the progressive movement in its passivity lost a golden opportunity to fight the carefully constructed notion that being a dissident, a radical or a communist was the same thing as being a traitor or spy. This strategy of distancing not only didn’t produce results but it would open the door in the following years to the progressive movement paying a huge price, one that would bring it very close to total annihilation at the hands of the North American extreme right.

Podemos comrades:

The trial that is about to start began its journey thanks to a complaint made by Vox[vii].

The judge who started everything[viii] already had in his curriculum vitae cases of legal repression against anarchists, pro-independence activists and the indignado movement (15M).

The head of the General Council of the Judicial Power congratulated the judge for being a "patriot"[ix].

The first evidence against the independence leaders was collected through irregular summonses and inquiries done by the Civil Guard.

While investigating the case, Daniel Baena, the Civil Guard officer who was in charge, dedicated himself to insulting people, parties and organisations, exploding the principle of impartiality required for any fair trial.[x]

The legal guarantees of impartiality and independence have been exploded in the passage of the case to the Supreme Court.[xi]

The evidence presented by the prosecution has the same credibility as a program by Ana Rosa Quintana.[xii] For example, to incriminate [Òmnium Cultural president Jordi] Cuixart, images of sites and places he never visited are offered in evidence.

Do you remember the whatsapp of PP senator Ignacio Cosidó saying "we will control the Second Chamber from behind"[xiii]. Cosidó meant that control was assured thanks to the presence of judge Manuel Marchena. Well, the Second Chamber is the one that is trying the independence leaders and Manuel Marchena is its chief judge.

I could go on spelling out in detail the farce that this trial entails, but that is not the aim of this letter. The objective of this letter is to convey the conviction that if the Spanish left does not involve itself openly and decisively in this trial, its die is cast. After crushing the independence leaders, Vox will move on to you. In fact, they are already chasing journalists. «Patriotic» judges will not hesitate to get you in the sights of their "justice", controlled "from behind". The blowing up of the right to a fair, independent trial with legal guarantees that has been done in the case of the independence supporters will be used to wipe out any challenge posed by the left in any part of the State. That is what is at stake.

Given all this, it's time to be courageous. I am aware that, in the midst of the vast mystification that will come with the trials, you will have a very hard time. It will be uncomfortable, they will accuse you of lack of patriotism, of treachery, of being enemies of Spain, coup plotters, terrorists and whatever else is needed. But we either block their path  together or we all lose.

There are 500,000 of you. You are a huge social force and you have an enormous responsibility. That is why I ask you, in all humility, to get involved in the battle that is now starting. To inform yourself above and beyond the lies of the IBEX-controlled media, to really study the case, to look for reliable sources of information and, once all that is done, to pass on to others that part of reality that will be concealed under tons of lies orchestrated by those who have been ruling and robbing our country for 40 years. I know it’s hard, I know it can mean losing some votes and that you will not always be understood. But the alternative, as I say, is to disappear. And to do it by surrendering to the very powers that we came to fight.

A hug,

Albano

Footnotes

[i] In the run-up to the December 21, 2017 Catalan elections, called by then prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Podemos Catalonia (Podem), with Fachin as its general secretary, declared that it was open to building a broad left ticket of candidates in favour of the Catalan right to self-determination, including the ERC, CUP and the Constituent Process. In reaction, the State leadership of Podemos imposed a binding consultation of the Catalonia membership, asking it to answer Yes or No to the question: «Do you support Podem standing in the December 21 elections in coalition with Catalunya en Comú and our sister political forces that support neither the [October 27] declaration of independence nor the application of article 155 [of the Spanish constitution, suspending Catalan self-rule], with the word Podem in the name of the coalition on the ballot paper?» The result of the consultation, in which 17,379 members  took part (about 60% of the «active membership»--people who had registered an internet vote at least once in the previous year) was 72% in favour, 28% against. Fachin then resigned as general secretary of Podem.

[ii] The Madrid stock market index.

[iii] The two Castiles are Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha

[iv] The reference is to the Committes for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), which have a program of non-violent civil disobedience in support of the Catalan right to decide and Catalan independence.

[v] Pablo Casado, Albert Rivera and Santiago Abiscal, respectively leaders of the People’s Party, Citizens and Vox.

[vi]    Former CUP MP and lawyer Benet Salellas’s book I Accuse—Defence in Political Trials is a valuable study of political defence in state trials where the verdict has already been decided by the powers-that-be, with examples drawn from the Dreyfus case down to Salellas’s own involvement in the defence of Montse Venturós, the CUP mayoress of Bergà (see here for some coverage of her case).

[vii]   The extreme right, neo-Francoist, ultra-unionist party Vox is the «popular prosecution» in the case of the Catalan political prisoners and has used this position to give itself profile as  the most patriotic, most reliable defender of Spanish state unity.

[viii]  The reference is to Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer, who before his death on November 4 was presiding judge in Barcelona’s Court 13. Ramírez Sunyer issued numerous search warrants that allowed the Civil Guard to raid government and company premises in search of material related to the October 1 referendum. This material forms the bulk of the prosecution’s grounds for charging the pro-independence leaders with «rebellion» and «sedition».

[ix]    The reference is to Carlos Lesmes, chief judge of the Supreme Court and head of the General Council of the Legal Power. Lesmes’s letter to Ramŕez Sunyer is here.

[x]     See here for some detail on Baena’s activity as a social network troll under the pseudonym of «Tácito».

[xi]    See the comments on this issue of Javier Pérez Royo, University of Sevilla professor of constitutional law, here.

[xii]   The presenter of the Program of Ana Rosa on Telecinco, a mixture of gossip and «investigative journalism», often directed at finding «dirt» on the Catalan independence movement.

[xiii]  See here for more detail on this scandal. Cosidó is the leader of the PP group in the Senate.

January 28

• (El Nacional) 'Global Spain', Borrell's toy in the middle of the trial

January 27

• (El Nacional) Spain plans PR campaign to counter Catalan independence while leaders are on trial

Background information on the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prisoners (contribution 5)

International observers? They can watch it on the telly!

Spain’s Prosecutor General has suggested that international observers should follow the trial of the Catalan political prisoners on TV

Sebastià Alzamora.jpg

Mallorcan writer, Sebastià Alzamora

Ara, January 29

Spain’s Prosecutor General, María José Segarra, is adamant that she sees no need for international observers to be present at the trial against the Catalan leaders because, I quote, “it will be broadcast live on TV, so I doubt if we could be any more transparent”. And she added that “you could try to give international observers a higher profile, but there you are: live on TV”. And, like the Eurovision song contest, it’ll be free for everyone to watch, she might have quipped.

María José Segarra embodies one of the biggest disappointments of PM Sánchez’s administration. Not only for the Catalan leaders who will sit in the dock and are at the receiving end of her actions (or, rather, the lack thereof), but for anyone who welcomed her appointment —someone with a progressive profile— with a glimmer of hope that Spain’s justice system might find its way back to separation of powers. Following a string of predecessors whose sole purpose was to dance to the tune of the Spanish government at the time (the late José Manuel Maza springs to mind: he was the AG who fabricated the charges upon which Justice Llarena has feverishly built the case that will be tried soon), at first it seemed as if Segarra might work to bring Spain’s judiciary back to the straight and narrow, after becoming completely entangled in Spanish politics, drifting towards extreme nationalism and taking on an authoritarian mindset epitomised by the Partido Popular’s so-called “gag law”, a bill that hasn’t been repealed yet. Segarra’s appointment came when the all-out judicial onslaught against Catalan separatism —in particular, the case examined by Justice Llarena— had been heavily censured by courts of law in Belgium and Germany, so much so that Llarena had no choice but to withdraw the European arrest warrants he had issued himself, thus becoming the laughingstock of the international community. But that’s not the end of it. Cases such as the “wolf pack” gang rape and Valtònyc, the exiled rap singer, made the front pages of the top international newspapers, plunging Spain’s justice and, therefore, the reputation of the rule of law, to a level of international disrepute unprecedented in this period of so-called democratic rule.

Far from doing anything to amend the situation, Segarra has given in to the powerful nationalist and far right elements among the judiciary’s top brass, becoming a foot soldier at their command and that of Foreign Minister Josep Borrell. The latter has been pouring public funds into an international PR campaign to improve Spain’s image abroad, badly tarnished by Madrid’s appalling handling of the conflict with Catalonia (and not, as he claims, by Catalonia’s independence supporters). Nevertheless, Segarra’s outlandish suggestion that the international observers should follow the trial on TV, as if it were a football match, insults the intelligence of International Trial Watch (the platform that brings together and coordinates observers from Spain and elsewhere) and, once again, the intelligence of the general public at large.

Translation: Ara (slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau)

Week ending January 27

January 26: National Call for the Republic's founding congress

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President Quim Torra at founding congress of the Crida Nacional ("National Call for the Republic")

• (El Nacional) New platform the 'Crida' appeals for unity across Catalan independence movement
• (El Nacional) New Catalan party Crida chooses leadership team headed by jailed Jordi Sànchez

January 25

• (El Nacional) Puigdemont meets taxi drivers in Waterloo as Catalonia-wide strike ends

Background information on the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prisoners (contribution 4)

Spain’s Supreme Court before October 1 referendum trial: 'The right to vote in an unlawful consultation does not exist'

Court issues ruling that reduces sentence for Mas, Ortega and Rigau over November 9, 2014 consultation

9N defendents with Quim Torra and Pere Aragonès

President Quim Torra and vice president Pere Aragonès with Irene Rigau, Joana Ortega, Artur Mas and Francesc Homs. ANDREU DALMAU / EFE

Ara, January 24

Mariona Ferrer Fornells/Ruth Pérez Castro

Just a few days before the trial against Catalonia’s independence leaders kicks off, Spain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday released the details of ruling against Artur Mas, Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau over the November 9, 2014 consultation of Catalan public opinion on Catalan statehood. The court, which had previously found Francesc Homs guilty, took the opportunity to lay out the guidelines that could set the tone for the upcoming trial of the independence process, where two of the judges who tried the former Catalan president and his ministers will also be sitting on the bench.

In a 76-page long ruling, the court states that "the right to participate in a voting process does not exist when its illegality has been proclaimed by whose who interpret and guarantee fundamental rights." Of the November 9, 2014 consultation, it also states that "the exercise of fundamental rights has limits." "The right to vote in an unlawful consultation does not exist," it argues, pointing out that neither does "the right to participate in events of a public interest authorize an official vote to be held so that citizens can give their opinion as to whether a defendant is guilty or not, even if justice emanates from the people." The ruling was penned by Justice Antonio del Moral, who, along with Luciano Varela, is a member of the seven-judge court that will try the pro-independence leaders in the coming weeks.

The judges have thus addressed one of the aspects that will affect the defense, that of fundamental rights. The text also mentions another: the fact that calling a referendum or a consultation ceased to be a crime in 2005. The Supreme Court, which in this case was ruling on disobedience, affirms that it has the authority do so, even if the specific fact of convening a referendum is not a crime: "If the corresponding authority [in this case the Constitutional Court] bans such a vote, as it should, failure to with this instruction by its recipients will constitute disobedience." And it adds that "despite the fact that it prevents the public from participating in matters of public interest."

In addition, the judges describe as “almost bizarre" the notion that the verdict against Mas, Ortega and Rigau could contribute to making "some citizens feel inhibited" when it comes to participating in further consultations, or even "participating in public affairs." Therefore, the court considers "unfounded" the argument regarding citizen disenfranchisement alleged by Artur Mas and and his ministers, accentuated by the "fear that their legitimate representatives may be convicted."

The court justified the reduction of the disqualification penalty arguing that Mas, Ortega and Rigau have already endured the effects of the penalty without, officially, it having yet been applied. The fact that none of them could run in the elections, even though the ruling had not yet been confirmed, means that "the defendants are suffering an extra-judicial measure of similar content." Therefore, concluded the Supreme, the "de facto" period of disqualification began as of the first ruling. "We cannot ignore this," it states.

Translation: Ara

January 24

• (El Nacional) PP offensive against Catalan public TV in the European Parliament

January 23

• Carles Puigdemont interviewed by Komsomolskaya Pravda

Background information on the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prisoners (contribution 3)

False dichotomy

The way in which the October 1 case has proceeded so far inevitably points to a guilty verdict

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Javier Pérez Royo, professor of constotutional law, University of Seville

Javier Pérez Royo (Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Seville)

Ara, January 23

Last Sunday [Barcelona daily] La Vanguardia published a very lengthy piece about the defence strategies of the Catalan leaders who are to stand trial following the October 1 referendum on independence. The story underscored the alleged split between those who wish to foreground the “political” angle and the defence teams that will emphasise the “technical” aspects. On Monday, Madrid-based El País ran a shorter story insisting on this point: “Differences in defence strategies to set tone of October 1 trial”.

In my opinion, this is a false dichotomy. Needless to say, every defence will be “technical”. The opposite would be impossible. But not all of them will share the same reference framework —inevitably, of a political nature— without which nothing can be understood. There won’t be —there can’t be— “technical” versus “political” defences, only “technical” defences that will necessarily be “political”, too. And that is owing to strictly judicial reasons: without adding the “political” element, lodging an appeal on the grounds of unconstitutionality —which must precede an eventual appeal before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)— would become a nearly impossible uphill struggle.

In the process that led to the referendum of October 1 2017 —and during the weeks following the vote— it seems clear to me that some Catalan leaders engaged in unlawful actions. My impression is that we can all agree on that. The point of contention is what offence these actions constituted, specifically. Did the Public Prosecutor press charges in accordance with the law or was he, in fact, merely concealing political motives under the guise judicial proceedings? This is the crux of the matter. And the answer to this question will determine everything else.

In my view, it was the latter of the two. The decision by Spain’s Public Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, to bring charges of rebellion [against the Catalan leaders] before Madrid’s National High Court [Audiencia Nacional] had no legal base, neither from a substantive nor from a procedural point of view. The defendants’ actions did not constitute a crime of rebellion —as confirmed by over one hundred criminal law professors from universities across Spain— and the National High Court, following a decision taken by all its members in an earlier case, could not be the default court to hear the matter, as established by law. Here lies the original sin, which has not been righted by bringing the entire case before the Supreme Court: it is not the ordinary, default court of law and there is no higher ranking court in Spain to which an appeal may be made after the verdict, thus preventing the defendants from exercising their right to do so. Not just one, but two basic rights have been infringed upon.

The erratic trajectory followed by the examining magistrate, Pablo Llarena, before European courts of law, is evidence that there were no legal grounds for pressing rebellion charges. Although the Higher Court of Schleswig-Holstein is the only one to have handed down a resolution on the European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish judge, Llarena’s eventual decision to withdraw the arrest warrant across Europe has granted the German court’s ruling general scope. It has proven, beyond all doubt, Justice Llarena’s inability to persuade any European judge that the defendants had committed a crime of rebellion.

This judicial category has allowed the adoption of the most extreme of all cautionary measures: pre-trial detention, which is difficult to argue convincingly from a legal standpoint. At the time of writing, Spain’s Constitutional Court is considering an appeal [against pre-trial detention] by Oriol Junqueras, based on the ECHR’s jurisprudence.

Is a “technical” defence at all possible, if it disregards these precedents? Can we reasonably expect the Supreme Court to review the characterisation of the defendants’ actions as a crime of rebellion on appeal, bearing in mind that this court has confirmed every single decision by the examining magistrate, which has led to the defendants spending a significant length of time in prison and has prevented some of them from being voted in as president of Catalonia in a manner which —to my mind— is openly unconstitutional and at odds with Catalonia’s Statute?

I would like to be wrong, but the way in which the October 1 case has proceeded so far inevitably points to a guilty verdict. The trial will be a farce, even though they will abide by all the legal proceedings while it is being held. But the verdict has already been written.

There is no river Jordan that can wash away the original sin. The legal counsels must point this out throughout the trial, as this will provide the best basis for appeal on the grounds of unconstitutionality and, if dismissed by the Constitutional Court, a further appeal to the ECHR.

Politics and law have gone hand in hand in the actions by the Prosecutor and the Supreme Court. They must do likewise in the defence of the indicted.

Translation: Ara (slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau)

The anti-Borrell (episode 1)

Occasional posts about the dirty deeds of Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell

Ferreres juliol 2018 Borrell-Primer ministre belga. Ara-Premium_2054204562_55437834_766x385.jpg

Belgian PM Charles Michel to Borrell: 'I'm sorry, the Belgian government can't influence judges. The legal system has been independent here since we threw out the Duke of Alba.'

Episode 1 (January 21-22)

The Borrell view...

(El Nacional, January 21)

Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell is continuing his international campaign to sell the Spanish government's narrative about the police repression of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. This Monday, he brought up the vote as an example of "disinformation" in an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. "We've given examples of cases like the famous thousand injured during the illegal referendum in Catalonia", the minister said in Brussels, saying that "only two were admitted to hospital".

One of the topics for debate today was an action plan to fight false information in the European election. Borrell told his counterparts that "the images spread those days on the police's violent attitude" were "false" and that "there was an enormous quantity of information" those days which came from servers "situated in Russian or Venezuelan territory".

The minister said that foreign interference and fake news is "of special importance" for Spain in its "internal problem" of Catalonia. "In the Catalonia conflict, disinformation has played a very important role", he told a press conference after the meeting.

According to Borrell, all the European states agree on the need to develop measures to protect this year's European election from outside interference and false information. He warned that "it's ever easier to hack human brains".

...and reality

Tweets by former Catalan health minister Toni Comín (January 22)

1. In this report it explains in all detail (all the detail allowed by data protection rules) how many people were attended to [on October 1], where, what the diagnosis was and how serious the injuries were.

2. If I were a doctor in the Catalan health system, I would want to know whether when minister Josep Borrell talks about "fake news" he's questioning the rigour of the professionals who diagnose the patients who arrive in their surgeries, which this report is based on.

3. If I were one of the more than 1000 people attended to by the health services during those days (1st to 4th October 2017), I would find it to be a grave lack of respect that a minister of the government of the state I belong to should put into doubt the injuries I suffered.

4. Finally, if I were a PSOE voter, I would ask myself why minister Josep Borrell is acting, as regards those injured and attended to on 1st October, in exactly the same way the senior PP officials have done from the start, October 2017. Is the PP his point of reference?

Translation: El Nacional

January 22:

• Spanish court blocks appearence of political prisoners in Catalan Parliament. Catalan parties call court's action a delaying strategy to stop former ministers giving evidence to Investigation commission

Lest We Forget (post 1)

Eighty years later: the fall of Barcelona began a dark night of pillage and sadistic repression

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January 26, 1939: Francoist troops enter Barcelona

Ester Vera (editor, Ara)

The shamelessness and insolence of the far right in Spain coincides with a broad wave of populism in the West that in some parts of Europe takes its inspiration directly from fascism. Certain commentators speak of a pendulum swing characterized by a return to exclusionary nationalism and reactionary values, but the situation in Spain is more akin to the zombie apocalypse of the Franco regime. This week will mark the eighth decade since Franco’s troops entered Barcelona, a prelude to the entire nation subsequently falling into the hands of the junta. Some of the ideas imposed by the victors were adopted by the collective consciousness and, unfortunately, they have survived to this day, like when people accuse the Catalan independence movement of having awoken the beast instead of wondering why it is still alive and kicking.

Sílvia Marimon has written a piece which appears in today’s edition of ARA on how the Franco regime systematically went about confiscating the assets of thousands of individuals who had either died, were imprisoned or had fled from the terror instigated by the winning side in 1939. Franco’s troops, who didn’t have the least intention of acting with magnanimity, carried out a bloodthirsty repression that included pillage, humiliation, torture, rape and the silencing and terrorizing of millions of individuals.

Marimon has obtained a folder containing documents entitled Account of Apartments Referred to the Housing Review Commission (1), which consists of a list of unoccupied houses drawn up with the help of pro-Franco residents in Barcelona. The document had been written before the city surrendered. The list, together with the Law of Political Responsibilities of February 9, 1939, allowed for the systematic plunder of property and assets belonging to Republicans, an occurrence which is still unfinished business for Spain, where so many families escaped with their lives in exchange for being forced into a life of humiliation and misery, terror and exile.

When Franco’s troops took Barcelona, it did not bring peace; instead, it led to a long, dark night which Spain has yet to fully illuminate with a modern, democratic political consensus. No restitution has occurred, whether material or ideological in nature, as shown by the resistance to changing the dictator’s final resting place.

In an interview with Manuel Aznar on December 31, 1938, Franco announced his plans for the defeated, whom he divided into "hardened criminals" who could never be reformed and those who had been deceived by their leaders and who had a chance to repent.

The prison and the labour camps would be for those responsible for minor crimes while the rest would face prison or exile. Repression was a drawn out affair, as Paul Preston reminds us in The Spanish Holocaust. Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth Century Spain (Harper Press). Preston quotes words spoken by Franco on May 19, 1939, the day on which he presided over a spectacular Victory Parade in Barcelona: "Let us not fool ourselves: the Jewish spirit that allowed the alliance of the great capital with Marxism, which knows all about pacts with the anti-Spanish revolution, cannot be excised in one day, and it lurks deep in many consciences". Thus, Franco approved of Germany’s anti-Semitic laws. Likewise, some months later, on December 31, 1939, he claimed that the expulsions [of Jews] ordered by the Catholic monarchs had shown the Nazis the way. In his speech he stated: "Now you will understand the reasons which have led different nations to fight and separate from their activities those races which are tainted by greed and self-interest, since their predominance in society leads to disturbance and jeopardizes the achievement of their historical destiny. Thanks to the grace of God and the insight of the Catholic monarchs, we freed ourselves from such a heavy burden many centuries ago, yet we must not remain indifferent to this new flowering of greedy, selfish spirits, so attached to their material possessions that they are more willing to sacrifice their own children than renounce their sordid interests".

On January 26, the arrival of Franco’s troops in Barcelona was preceded by a mass exodus. Only two days earlier, on January 24, the Republican government had fled to Girona. Eighty years later, Spain is a democratic country and a prosperous member of the European Union. Nevertheless, political discourse continues to pour out anger, hate and imagined grievances against cultural diversity. Incredibly, the frequent references to the Reconquista, together with accusations of "stealing money from Extremadura to give to Catalonia" are not due to ignorance of our past, but instead thanks to deep hatred and sectarianism.

It appears as if Spain experienced the Counter-Reformation without having ever been reformed, and only the Spanish people themselves can put an end to this state of affairs by opposing the return of the reactionaries that we are witnessing. By standing up for democracy and progress.

Translator’s note: (1) The original title in Spanish is: Relaciones de pisos remitido a la Comisión Revisora de Viviendas

Translation: Ara

Backgrounder

The data are clear: there is a broad consensus among Catalans

Statistical analysis done by Joe Brew for VilaWeb

January 11

All sides in the Catalonia crisis agree that Spain is facing a constitutional crisis. And though the proximal cause of that crisis is the collective disobedience of the Spanish government by Catalonia's citizenry in regards to the October 2017 self-determination referendum, the distal cause (ie, "the cause of the cause") of that disobedience is the perceived illegitimacy of the Constitution in Catalonia, and the broad desire for self-determination.

In other words, the "illegal" referendum organized by the Catalan government last October came about because the rulebook which prohibited that referendum (the Spanish Constitution) does not receive sufficient support to guarantee broad compliance in Catalonia. Support for the Spanish Constitution is low among Catalans, and support for Catalan self-determination is high.

How low? And how high? Let's see.

The questions

How much support is there for the 1978 Consitution in Spain and Catalonia?

How much support is there among Catalans and Spaniards for self-determination?

The data

We'll use the most recent data from the Barometer of Public Opinion from the Center of Opinion Studies (CEO, Catalonia) and the Center for Sociological Research (CIS, Spain).

The results

1. Satisfaction with the Constitution in Spain

Outside of Catalonia, the overall percentage of Spaniards who are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the Spanish Constitution is an absolute majority (51.8%). The unsatisfied minority (the sum of both "not satisfied" and "not at all satisfied") is only 23.4%. In other words, in Spain, the "satisfied" outnumber the "unsatisfied" by a margin of greater than 2 to 1.

Given this high degree of satisfaction, serious reforms are unlikely in the near future.

2. Dissatisfaction with the Constitution in Catalonia

If we look just at Catalonia, the opposite pattern emerges. Only 1.75% are "very satisfied" with the Constitution, less than one fourth the rate of high satisfaction in the rest of Spain. And the sum of the "very satisfied" and "satisfied" group rises to only 22.55%.

The percentage of Catalans who are not satisified with the Constitution is over twice that: 52.1%. 24.3% of Catalans are "not satisfied", and 27.8% are not at all satisfied.

3. Variation in satisfaction with the Constitution in other Autonomous Communities

Of the 17 CCAAs, Catalonia has the highest dissatisfaction rate, exceeding 50%. But there are two other CCAAs where dissatisfaction is greater than satisfaction: in the Basque Country, 41.6% are dissatisfied with the Constitution whereas only 32.9% are satisfied; and in Navarra, 39% are dissatisfied with the Constitution whereas 31.7% are satisfied.

4. Broad opposition to self-determination in Spain

In a national survey in October 2018, Spaniards were given 5 choices about their preferences for territorial organization: (i) a centralized state with no autonomy for the regions, (ii) a state with less autonomy than the current status quo, (iii) status quo, (iv) greater autonomy for the regions, (v) the possibility for regions to become independent.

A majority of non-Catalan Spaniards (76.4%) want to either keep the status quo (41.6%) or decrease the amount of autonomy given to the regions (34.8). A full 22.5% want a centralized state with no autonomy for the regions. Only 5% are in favor of granting self-determination to regions.

5. The consensus for self-determination in Catalonia

Only 19.1% of Catalans believe that Catalonia does not have a right to a self-determination referendum, whereas 68.4% believe that it does. Removing those who do not answer the question, 78.2% of Catalans believe that Catalonia has a right to a self-determination referendum.

Qualitative reflection

6. "Social fracture" and its causes

A common accusation of the political right in Catalonia is that the drive for self-determination has caused unprecedented "social fracture". But the supposed cause of this social fracture - self-determination - is supported by a large majority of Catalans, including many who are opposed to independence. Only 19% of Catalans believe that Catalonia does not have a right to self-determination. Even in the staunchly Spanish nationalist parties (C's and PPC) have sizable minorities who believe that Catalonia has a right to self-determination (35.4% and 20.8%, respectively).

On the other hand, in a hypothetical referendum on the Spanish Constitution, only 17.4% of Catalans say that they would vote "yes". Even if we remove the 25.6% which don't know or don't answer, the percentage who would vote "yes" would be only 23.4% ("no" would be 76.6%).

Conclusion: the broad consensus

Pedro Sánchez recently said that the Catalan crisis "is going to last for years" since a solution will require a "broad social majority which does not exist right now in Catalonia".

But the data are clear. Catalans already share a broad consensus: more than 3/4 are in favor of exercising the right to self-determination, and more than 3/4 are opposed to the Spanish Constitution which prevents them from exercising that right.

It is a strange that in many political sectors, the 78% consensus in favor of a self-determination referendum is considered "not enough", but the 23% consensus in favor of the Constitution is considered sufficient for the continued governance of Catalonia. It is also strange that mainstream Spanish political parties and politicians continue to treat the broad desire among Catalans for self-determination as a question of criminal law, rather than politics. As long as a broad majority of Catalans favor self-determination, they will continue to elect politicians who pursue it (within or outside of Spanish law). And as long as a broad majority of Catalans are opposed to the Spanish Constitution, they will continue to elect politicians who create laws outside of it.

A political solution to the Catalan crisis requires recognition of the following three truths:

1. A broad consensus in favor of self-determination already exists among Catalans.
2. The root cause of the current crisis is not a disagreement among Catalans, but rather the prohibition by Spain of Catalonia acting on that broad consensus.
3. Governing a territory in which fewer than one quarter of the inhabitants approve of the "rules of the game" (the Constitution) is simply unsustainable, and will likely lead to further "illegal" policies voted and approved by Catalan leaders.

Mr. Sánchez is correct that the crisis will "last for years" if Spain is politically incapable of accepting an independence referendum in Catalonia. But a prolonged crisis is neither necessary nor inevitable. The consensus for the solution already exists among Catalans. Pretending that this consensus does not exist, or describing the political crisis as a "conflict between Catalans" reflects ignorance of reality... or a desire to twist it.

Acknowledgement: Thanks go to Joe Brew for making the English original of his analysis available to this blog.

Interview: Exiled Catalan health minister Tony Comín

21-01-19 Toni Comín.jpeg

Toni Comín, former Catalan health minister, exiled in Belgium

Andreu Barnils (VilaWeb)

January 15

Toni Comín, former Catalan health minister and MP for the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) in the Catalan Parliament, is in exile in Leuven (Belgium), where he lives with his partner and daughter who has already begun speaking Flemish. He is involved in the Council for the Republic, and follows Catalan politics in detail, including the negotiations over the budget, the disputes among the pro-independence parties and the forthcoming municipal elections. VilaWeb spoke with Mr Comín over the phone and found him, as always, forceful, open-minded and very focussed on the present.

Would Toni Comín support the PSOE government budget?

I believe that you can’t vote in favor of the budget for the clear and obvious reason that Pedro Sánchez has not shown any change of attitude. The question is: does the PSOE government stand outside the Francoist mental framework or not? Does it stand outside the framework into which the parties of the right and the Supreme Court are locked? Does the PSOE grasp that legal persecution has to be stopped and does it understand that the solution for Catalonia is the same as for Scotland? We want the Spanish socialists to behave like David Cameron. Will they? If it turns out that we have before us a government that is unable—out of fear, electoral calculation, laziness or inertia—to break out of this Francoist mental framework it makes no sense for us to support its budget.

I don’t know if they have room to move. According to the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), and as [poll analyst] Joe Brew recalled, in Spain a spectacular 20% of people want a state without regional autonomy, 12% want less autonomy and only 5% accept the right of the autonomous regions [states, in Australia and US, provinces in Canada] to independence. 40% want the status quo. This is data that does not include Catalonia. What margin does the PSOE government have?

The drama of Spanish politics is cultural. Since the Franco regime, and in the name of the anti-terrorist struggle [against Basque Homeland and Freedom], a pre-democratic idea of the unity of Spain has been upheld. And this is the deepest foundation of Spanish political culture: the unity of Spain is sacred, above and beyond civil and political rights. I hold the 1982 PSOE government of Felipe González responsible for what is happening today. There was an historical opportunity then and it was not grasped. They showed great irresponsibility. They missed the opportunity in the eighties to purge Francoism not only from the institutions but also from the political culture of the citizens of Spain.

And how do you see Catalan politics now from Leuven?

Within the independence movement there are people who still get too conditioned by the struggle for hegemony. That is a problem. My position on this has been very clear right from the start: now is not the time for the fight over hegemony. From October 27, 2017 [day of the declaration of independence by the Catalan parliament] this struggle should have been put on hold until further notice. What is needed now is strategic unity. But there are those who think that the little obstructions are still important because they weaken the rival team. Well, for me, the rest of the pro-independence supporters are not rivals. They are allies. I am on the list of ERC in the Parliament of Catalonia and my allies are called the People’s Unity List (CUP) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat). Having them as allies does not make me less of a supporter of the ERC. And working for the alliance with these sectors does not make me any less of an ERC MP. It does not make me a betrayer of anything.

What do you mean?

I didn’t believe it when I learned that in Catalonia there are people who believe that Comín has betrayed the ERC because he has a good relationship with other players, particularly with JxCat, particularly with Carles Puigdemont. At first I thought it was a joke. As far as I know, Puigdemont is not my enemy, he's my ally. On the other hand, there’s the issue of strategic unity. And when you analyse the political documents of the organisations and parties, they are closer than might seem.

For example?

No-one renounces unilateralism; everyone understands that the more of us there are, the better; everyone understands that we cannot stand still and must move forward; everyone understands that after the sentences [in the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prioners], something must be done. That is, the different strategies are closer than might seem. However, strategic unity requires concrete objectives. For example, to have the referendum on October 1 we were all on the same page: CUP, Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, European Catalan Democratic Party (PDECat), ERC. So, if a proposal existed that was very, very, very obvious, we would already have strategic unity and things would be as plain as the nose on your face. This time around, however, there are quite a few ideas but none so unquestionable as to prevail by itself.

Let's talk about the Torra government. What score would you give it?

What I very much thank Presdent Torra for is being the person who most clearly and openly states that independence cannot be won through the institutions alone. And that it can only be won through the mobilisation of the citizens. And that citizen mobilisation has a very high cost for the people. And that the people should know that. And that the people then have to decide. Our obligation is not to tell people what to do, but, yes, explain the price of independence. The real price. Clearly and bluntly. And we haven’t had the courage to say that. President Torra is one of the clearest because he speaks of sacrifices. We have to tell people that if we want independence, there will be sacrifices. And if you do not want to make them, that’s your right, but there will be no independence. If people don’t want to make sacrifices, there won’t be any independence.

Unfortunately, in Spain independence won’t be won at the ballot box. Not in Spain. From what I was saying earlier. I want to thank President Torra very much for his courage in saying so. That’s the word, courage. Which is precisely why he gets criticism. That he’s a radical and is calling for God knows what. No. He says clearly what the price really is of the goal that people say they have. And then, let people consider that. We will not say what has to be done. But we have to be clear. Do you want independence? Well, this has a cost.

And as far as the Catalan government goes?

As regards the management of the Torra government, what I said would happen is happening. We have an effective government, yes. But let’s not generate expectations that can’t be fulfilled later. I put this in writing: once invested, the Government of the Generalitat would have a fundamentally defensive function. That is to say, to stop the other side from controlling it and dismantling the little autonomy that we have. But the government cannot meet the expectations of December 21 [the last Catalan elections]. By itself, the government, does not have enough strength.

Let’s move on to the Council for the Republic...

The Council for the Republic is an idea that, despite all the doubts, has ended up coming to fruition. The sceptics are sceptical in private, the enthusiasts, publically enthusiastic. This is because the Council maintains the mandate of October 1. The legitimacy and the political energy that were released on that day, if not institutionalised, would dissipate. If I might say so, the Council is three things in one. On the one hand, government-in-exile in waiting; then high command in waiting; and finally Diplocat [Catalan ministry of foreign affairs] in waiting. It's the three things at once.

What do you mean by «in waiting»?

I mean that if this country rises up after the sentence [against the political prisoners], it can’t be ruled out that the Spanish state will again react with an article 155 intervention [suspending Catalan self rule]. What will then be the place of residence of the will of the majority of citizens of Catalonia, its representative? The government imposed by Madrid or the Council for the Republic? The Council’s the high command, pardon the term, insofar as it’s the space that now best expresses the unity of independentism. The ERC is there, JxCat, Free People [CUP affiliate Poble Lliure], the ANC, Democrats, and we want to add more players. And it is the Diplocat-in-waiting because the foreign policy reach of the Government of the Generalitat is limited by Madrid. And by the Statute [of Catalan autonomy] itself. The Generalitat cannot go around the world doing high diplomacy in an open way. But the Council can. Now, however, we must do things as prosaic as preparing the Council’s regulations. Prepare an electoral system, because by next autumn at the latest we have to hold elections for the assembly of representatives. We also have to develop a technical infrastructure. We need staff and we need to create the Council administration. We are working on that. And we need to carry out some specific projects. Flagship projects, some of them important.

For example?

One that’s dull, but for me it's basic. We have to set up a think tank, because we lack a scientific basis on which to elaborate political strategy. That is, we need the observatory that tells us how support for the Catalan cause is evolving in the countries of Europe. We don’t have the data. In Italy, do 3% or 13% know of us? And how many support us? That means working with demographic institutes from different countries. And the other side is to speak with experts in international public law and political philosophy that have a consolidated position on the Catalan issue. And to make it clear that our claim is legitimate. And lawful. Here we have a battle. Because the problem that we have in the international arena is that they see October 1 clearly (they bashed you) but not so much October 27 (you took an unconstitutional path). We have to turn around the narrative of the unconstitutionality of October 27. And here we need political philosophy and experts in law, international and constitutional.

Would you like to stand in the May European elections?

What I would like to see for the European elections is a single list headed by [jailed ERC president] Oriol Junqueras. I’ve been saying it for many months. And so has [former ERC president] Josep Carod-Rovira and very many other people. And I think it makes sense that in this list you would have, first of all, the prisoners and those in exile. But keep in mind that we would probably not be able to collect the official confirmation of our candidacies. The central electoral board has already said that we would have to go to Madrid to pick that up.

Your friendship with [Barcelona fourth deputy mayor] Jaume Asens and your work at the health ministry make you one of the independence supporters with the closest relationship with the Commons [generic name given to the left force in Catalonia that supports a Catalan right to self-detemination but not necessarily indpendence]. How do you see them in Barcelona [where Barcelona en Comú runs the council]?

I would you ask them this question: Would Barcelona as the capital of a Catalan Republic help make a more or less egalitarian society? More! I don’t in the least underestimate the solidarity the Commons have shown towards the prisoners. Nor their condemnation of the repression. Nor that they broke with the Party of Catalan Socialists [former partners in the municipal government] over article 155. I don’t disregard any of that. But I see that sometimes they still discuss about the national axis--unionism, independence and those of us who want to be in between. That’s all legitimate. But since October 1 it’s no longer the game. Now it’s violence versus peace. On the axis of Francoism versus democracy, the peace versus violence axis, the Commons must be unambiguous, as the heirs of the United Socialist Party of Catalonia [PSUC, the former Catalan communist party] that they are. And maybe they are not entirely so. When they look out of the corner of their eye at the electoral frontier they share with Citizens, for example, in [working-class, mainly Castilian-speaking Barcelona neighbouhood] Nou Barris, I think they don’t realise that--perhaps without wanting to--they are putting the robbers and their victims on the same level. Haven’t we said that with Vox we can’t even walk to the corner? Well, neither with those who backed article 155.

Week ending January 20

This week's useful reading in English

VilaWeb

• Chris Bambery: ‘People are discovering the reality of Spain’s flawed democracy and the lack of independence of the judiciary’ (Interview with the Scottish activist and driver of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Catalonia at Westminster)
• Human Rights Watch denounces the impunity of the Spanish police

El Nacional

• Ahead of Catalan trial, Òmnium accuses Spain of "violating fundamental rights"<
• President Torra adopts Òmnium's slogan and calls on all Catalans to "accuse the State"
• Extremadura leads the second phase of "go get 'em!"
• Spanish government on idea from Extremadura: "It would be a usurpation of power"
• Spanish foreign minister orders diplomats to respond to Torra in all events abroad
• Division in left-wing Commons group on Catalan sovereignty question

Ara

• A blatantly intimidatory operation (The Girona crackdown aims to elicit a violent response in order to justify further repression)

Background information on the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prisoners (contribution 2)

The dark side of Spain’s Supreme Court

Lluís Mestres, a lawyer with Associació Atenes, explains why this court is not appropriate to judge Catalonia's pro-independence leaders

Josep Casurellas (Vilaweb)

‘It’s a clear violation of civil rights and something must be done. They can’t just sit back and do nothing in the face of such injustice’. These were Lluís Mestres’ thoughts in autumn 2017, leading him and a group of colleagues to take action following the imprisonment of political prisoners and the exile of a part of the Catalan government.

They decided to set up Associació Atenes [Athens Association] as a conscious decision to make a contribution to the legal fight against Spain’s crackdown. They paid particular attention to Spain’s judicial leadership, to the corrupt practices which had been going on for many years, culminating in the vindictive measures taken against independence supporters. The entity has acted discreetly in coordination with the individuals concerned and their defence teams, in order to help without getting in the way.

As a result of their efforts, they have lodged two legal complaints. The first was in reference to the report issued by GRECCO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body, which criticised Spain for the lack of judicial independence in the appointment of judges. The complaint was against all twenty members of Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary (GCJ) for having broken the rules concerning the appointment of judges, thus committing an ongoing administrative violation. They listed seven instances of the appointment of judges with ties to the Partido Popular (PP). The Associació subsequently added to the complaint following the appointment of Carmen Lamela to the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court (SC) and, an even more blatant case, the preferential treatment given to Sofía Marchena, the daughter of the president of the court which is to hear the case against the political prisoners.

The second complaint was made against the Constitutional Court and members of the Rajoy government for having violated Carles Puigdemont’s political rights and for preventing him from being voted president a year ago.

Having painstakingly combed through the actions and decisions of the Supreme Court judges throughout this eventful year of legal action against the independence movement, the Associació Atenes is clear as to the key points which discredit the prosecution’s case and some of the scandals which prove the Spanish judicial system does not operate in a normal manner. Lluís Mestres explains the situation in ten points.

1. A trial full of irregularities and lacking a legal basis
This is a trial that has no legal basis. Of course, they made an attempt to try to respect the proper legal safeguards as soon as the case reached the Supreme Court. However, right from the start it was a disaster. They violated the most basic rights due to any defence. You can’t inform someone who lives in Barcelona that the next day they have to be in Madrid and appear before the National Court when it’s a bank holiday, ​​giving them less than twenty-four hours to study the charges brought against them. This is a serious breach of protocol. But once the process was underway, although there were certain instances in which they didn’t follow the correct procedures to the letter, one can see that the Supreme made an attempt to adhere to the procedural guarantees so that no one could accuse them of ignoring them. But ultimately it’s window-dressing. The whole case is totally illegal, since they’re presiding over a case in the full knowledge that no crime has been committed. It’s that serious. I can’t believe a Supreme Court judge can say there’s evidence that a crime has been committed. No lawyer with a modicum of dignity would say that the case is based on actual crimes.

2. The Supreme’s strategy is to hear the case even though it does not fall within its jurisdiction
It appears as if the court feels there’s a national interest in them doing so. And they’ve invented a legal excuse by arguing that, since the events in question affect Spain as a whole, they will hear the case as they are highest-ranking court in the land: the Supreme Court. This is an argument seriously lacking a legal basis. Some of the defendants in this unique trial have only been charged with disobedience. And obviously the highest court in the land can’t hear a case of disobedience. So in order to ensure the outcome isn’t challenged, these defendants are being sent to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (HCJC). But it’s basically a tactical move; the Supreme’s decision isn’t grounded on legal criteria, it’s due to strategic reasons and self-interest. They’re interested in being able to get the case over as quickly as possible and making the actual trial as short as possible. Sending a few of the defendants to the HCJC with the excuse of disobedience, the Supreme Court saves itself from putting them on trial, thus only needing to sit twelve individuals in the dock. It’s an opportunistic decision rather than a legal one. It’s a decision taken by someone who is making a political calculation. They are dealing with the case based on political criteria. Which is why the defendants and their defence teams feel justified in saying that it’s a political trial and that they must defend themselves politically. Legally speaking there is no case to answer since no crime has been committed. And to all this we have to add the fact that there’s a huge disadvantage in the Supreme’s rulings, in that there isn’t a higher judicial authority to whom one can appeal.

3. A speedy, no holds barred attempt to punish the independence movement
Even if the authority of the Supreme Court judges were completely isolated from the executive branch, they would still act in the exact same way. They don’t need to be influenced by anybody; they already act on their own initiative. There is no need for a phone call from Soraya [Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, the former Deputy PM of Spain] (who did in fact call several times). They already act autonomously with the intention of defending the State. This is their function. The composition of the court and its instructions are suited to what it does. And I’m convinced that at times there have been moments of strong disagreements between the government and the Spanish Supreme Court, especially now that the PSOE is in power. I think that the PSOE doesn’t want anything to do with this trial, or at least wants to prolong it as long as possible so it doesn’t take place before the upcoming local elections. However, the Supreme has chosen a path and it’s going to stick to it. Right now I don’t think the current administration has the same connection with the SC as Rajoy’s government, and there’s even certain disagreements. But the Supreme has its own way of working, and presently they’re convinced that they’re the guardians of the state.

4. The unorthodox appointment of Llarena as the investigating magistrate
When Llarena was appointed to the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court, there were twelve judges. When a judge is appointed to preside over a special case such as the 1-O trial, it is important to realise that certain judges can’t hear the case because they were part of the chamber which initially admitted the case; Likewise, those who are already involved in special trials or are members of another chamber are ruled out. In total, seven judges were unable to preside over the trial. This left five judges who were eligible. Trials are always assigned based on seniority; Llarena was the most junior member of the court, the last on the list. But, for a reason unknown to us, none of the four judges before Llarena took the case. And there’s no shadow of a doubt that Llarena was specifically chosen to hear the trial. But that doesn’t mean that we have definitive proof, because we’ve tried to gain access to the Supreme’s internal documents to find out how it was decided that Llarena was to hear the case rather than the other four, but they wouldn’t let us see it. They kept on referring us to the rules regarding the access to information, which we’re already well aware of. We don’t have access to the decision itself. We believe that Carlos Lesmes found him the easiest to control. If other judges like Colmenero or Del Moral were in charge, with their many years’ experience and with their own criteria and thanks to being more senior than Marchena or Lesmes, they wouldn’t be so easy to control. With Llarena, on the other hand, there’s a friendly relationship there, but also he’s easier to control. The idea behind having Llarena take the case was for everyone else to be in the background controlling the trial.

5. Marchena’s hand controlling everything
According to judges who know the inner workings of the Supreme, many decisions are made over a coffee. It’s hard to imagine an investigating judge of a special trial such as this one not discussing their decisions with their colleagues. I’m almost certain that Llarena talked about a lot of his decisions with his colleagues and that many decisions were taken over coffee, drinks or a cigar. And I understand that Llarena wanted to make sure that, in the event of any appeals, he could be sure that it would be handled with his typical firmness. Since everything happens in the same chamber, it’s easy to discuss everything with one’s colleagues. There are only twelve of them. Marchena couldn’t interfere, but I’m sure that Llarena didn’t take his decisions alone. Meanwhile, Marchena’s resignation to preside over the GCJ was a manoeuvre designed to keep him in control of the 1-O trial. The PP’s political strategy, revealed in the scandal over Cosidó’s [the PP’s spokesman in the Senate] leaked WhatsApp message, was clearly carefully thought out in order not to remove Marchena from the chamber. And this is one of the problems with the Supreme Court: if everything takes place in the same chamber, if everything is concentrated in the Second Chamber, it’s very difficult to separate the investigation from the actual trial, and I’m certain that Marchena and the other members of the court knew all about Llarena’s investigation and they’ve discussed it.

6. Ultra-conservative judges
Marchena has a tarnished reputation and his impartiality has been called into question. He’s had problems in the Supreme and his professional life that prove he’s directly affected by this case. Quite frankly, he ought to step aside. But, honestly, the chamber as a whole should say it’s unable to try this case and they ought to send it back to Catalonia. In fact, there shouldn’t have been a trial in the first place. And all the judges have a very similar profile in terms of their way of thinking and the attitude they will have during the trial. They’ll try to scrupulously respect the procedural norms, but the decision has already been taken. And it’s a collective decision. I can only imagine that the decision to do things in a particular way was taken by a small group of individuals. Every time the defence teams have lodged an appeal against the investigation which has been dealt with by the appeals court within the same chamber in the Supreme, it’s ended up taking a tougher line than the investigating judge. When we were convinced that the investigating judge, Pablo Llarena, had committed a series of irregularities or made statements that were out of line, the appeals court backed him up and defended him. The judges are all hard-line conservatives, some are ultra-conservative, highly influenced by the Opus Dei. As far as I can see, these people aren’t in the Supreme because they are the best jurists in the country, but because they have the closest affinity to those in power and they can be trusted to uphold the unity of the state.

7. A structure created and designed by Federico Trillo
The way to approach the judicial process, when it began in the fall of 2017, was shared by the whole of the Supreme Court, the public prosecutor and the Spanish government headed by Rajoy and Sáenz de Santamaría. They were all in agreement, following the manual written by Federico Trillo, the mastermind of the current judicial structure. The system for deciding judicial appointments and placing sympathetic individuals in the various chambers to hear special corruption cases or those involving politicians, as in the current case, is Trillo’s brainchild. When the PP decides there is a need to defend the state and put the judicial machinery in motion, the system runs as smooth as silk, everything is perfectly coordinated, having been prepared to act in situations exactly like this one. It’s obvious that politically the PP and the Supreme are in complete harmony. The whole thing went like clockwork. Thanks to the structure designed by minister Trillo, individuals with the conservative profile which they were looking for could be appointed to the highest positions within the Spanish justice system. The centre of power is located at the GCJ. Whoever controls it also controls the justice system. As a result, the key aspect was to change the way judges are appointed, replacing what, in principle, according to law, ought to be based on merit and experience. However, an analysis of those who have been appointed shows that it was less to do with merit and experience and more to do with their close ties to the PP.

The GCJ appoints everyone from the president of the Supreme Court to the presidents of the provincial courts across Spain. The GCJ controls the whole system. If there’s a short-list for a specific position, it’s the GCJ who decides who will fill it by examining their merits and qualifications. But of course, seeing how the Second Chamber has had three vacancies, how they fill them, and who they appoint…

8. The Concepción Espejel scandal
Concepción Espejel’s is a classic case of political meddling in the appointment of senior officials to the Spanish judiciary. She was a member of the criminal chamber of the Spanish Court and when the first trial as part of the Gürtel case [one of the largest corruption scandals in recent Spanish history, involving senior members of the PP] came up, her colleagues informed her that she would be unable to take the case since she’s a close friend of María Dolores de Cospedal. As a result, she turned down the case before they could recuse her. But it occurred to the PP at that precise moment that the criminal chamber needed a president. They created the position and Concepción Espejel was duly appointed to fill it. As a result, she went from being a peer of judges who had informed her she was unfit to hear the case, to being their president and, therefore, to having control over the chamber. The PP sought this particular solution as a means of not losing control of the situation.

9. The Sofia Marchena scandal
Marchena studied to become a judge and she’s ended up being a prosecutor, when this isn’t possible, since they’re two distinct career paths and separation is essential. Her career began at a school where Gema Espinosa, Llarena’s wife, was the director. Marchena became ill and dropped out halfway through. When she came back she wasn’t able to apply for the position she wanted, so instead of starting all over, she was aided by someone in obtaining another position: quite simply, Gema Espinosa wrote a letter saying that Sofía Marchena had the skills and abilities required to sit the exam to become a prosecutor, a position which was still open. However, there were vacancies for thirty-five positions which had already been filled. Marchena wasn’t eligible based on her exam results. So they created a thirty-sixth position, changing the requirements so that Sofia Marchena’s results were good enough. In addition, we had to lodge a third complaint against the prosecutor, Luis Navajas, who is the one who challenges all our activities and does everything he’s supposed to do as a prosecutor in the Second Chamber.

10. The prosecutor Navajas scandal
In the case of Sofía Marchena, he responded that there was no reason to investigate it and finally stated that they had contacted the individual who was offered the thirty-sixth post as prosecutor and that they had turned it down. We have this in writing. It turns out that five hundred people had been preparing for years and they were more suited to the post than Sofía Marchena. And it just so happens that the person initially selected turned it down after receiving a phone call from the chief prosecutor. The prosecutor has the cheek to put this all in writing. It’s not his job to make any phone calls. Obviously, we filed a complaint against this prosecutor with anti-corruption. There are two possibilities: that whoever was assigned to the thirty-sixth post was tired, they didn’t want to be a prosecutor, they were a friend of Marchena and politely declined the post or they were paid to do so. Either way, corruption was involved.

Translation: Vilaweb

Background information on the upcoming trial of the Catalan political prisoners (contribution 1)

Ara: Editorial, January 16

In Spain holding an unauthorised referendum ceased to be an offence in 2005

PM Zapatero repealed Aznar’s 2003 criminal code amendment aimed at thwarting Ibarretxe’s referendum plans in the Basque Country

Faced with the challenge posed by the Basque president’s referendum plans, in 2003 PM José María Aznar’s government added a new offence to Spain’s criminal code: anyone calling an unauthorised referendum would risk a prison sentence of 3 to 5 years. At the time the PP enjoyed an outright majority in the Spanish parliament and the opposition’s protestations were to no avail, even though they all refused to lend the government their support. Only two years later, once José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had come to power, a fresh majority of lawmakers revoked the three articles from the criminal code. Back then the Partido Popular found itself all alone decrying the move and arguing that it only left the State a single defence strategy against a unilateral referendum: invoking Article 155 of the Constitution to impose direct rule.

So from a legal standpoint, holding a referendum outside the existing laws —as happened in Catalonia on November 9 2014 and again on October 1 2017— does not constitute a crime. At the very least, no charges can be pressed because —as we have seen— the State has other means to prevent the secession of a region. Therefore, if holding a referendum isn’t an offence, how come nine Catalan pro-independence leaders are being held in pre-trial detention? There is an easy explanation: since the Prosecutor and the examining magistrate could not invoke a specific article of the criminal code, they had to fabricate a narrative of violence to bring charges of rebellion and sedition against the Catalan leaders.

Had those articles not been repealed, today there would be no doubt that at least the Catalan ministers could be charged with holding an illegal referendum. But Spain’s lawmakers specifically decided not to characterise that as a crime in order not to criminalise an action that could be understood as a political statement that required precisely a political response. That is why they have had to build a farcical case, one where a peaceful demonstration is presented as a violent uprising, the Catalan police’s impeccable performance is a conspiracy and a political statement by the Catalan parliament —an inviolable institution— is construed as a criminal offence.

This will be one of the cornerstones of the defendants’ legal counsel in the trial against the October 1 vote which, undoubtedly, the European Court of Human Rights will very much bear in mind when the time comes to see the case. In the courtroom, political discourse —this will be essentially a political trial— will have to alternate with a solid legal defence that exposes the falsehoods on which the case has been built. It is at this crossroads where we expect to see the statements by the defence that will be made public next week.

The legal teams have been working for months to strike a balance between tearing the case apart and exposing Spain’s judicial shambles for all the world to see, as well as presenting Catalonia’s arguments. Specifically, they aim to expose the lack of judicial guarantees and the conditions which the defendants will endure throughout the trial: driven daily to court from their prison cell and with no time to confer with their lawyers. That is why the Supreme Court is now resorting to gestures, such as allowing the defendants to speak Catalan in court: what is at stake in this case is not just the prestige of Spain’s justice system, but of the State as a whole.

Translation: Ara

January 16: Spanish National Police information brigade on the rampage against Catalan independence supporters

The news:

• (El Nacional) Two Catalan town mayors arrested, released facing charges

• (El Nacional) Arrested: Catalan president's nephew, El Nacional photojournalist, others

Celrà mayor leaves Girona pòlice HQ.jpg

Celrà mayor Dani Cornellà leaves Girona police headquarters on January 16

Analysis:  (Roger Palà, Crític) The Information Brigade acts against the independence movement

rogerpala.jpg

Crític journalist Roger Palà

January 16

The information brigade (BI) of the Spanish National Police (PNE) is behind the police operation that has culminated - for the moment - with the arrest of sixteen Catalan independence supporters accused of public disorder in blocking the tracks at the High Speed Train (AVE) station in Girona during the first anniversary of the October 1 referendum. Among the detainees, two mayors of the CUP and a photo-journalist. It is no anecdote that the BI has driven the operation: the BI's Barcelona province branch is a unit in the eye of the storm of many polemics for its actions, and it seems that it has now decided to go on the counterattack after being in the shadows for a while.

What is the BI and how does it work? On paper, this unit is responsible for collecting information of police interest in any field, and this also includes underground and infiltration work. In Spain, each police headquarters has an information unit (in the case of Barcelona it is in charge of all of Catalonia). Historically,  the BI has specialised in the fight against terrorism and organised crime, but also against all kinds of social and political movements (in police jargon, "radical groups") from the squatters (okupa) movement to the movement for independence. At bottom, in its DNA the present BI is largely the heir of the former Franco-era political and social brigade. It is part of what we could call the deep state: governments come and go, political colours change, but they are always there.

The BI has recently been recently updated. As Crític revealed [in a  November 28 article by Palà], it was this police unit that provided the on-the-ground coordination for the operation to stop voting at polling stations during the referendum on October 1, 2017. This is what is explained in a police report incorporated into the legal case that is investigating possible police abuses in Barcelona on October 1. A BI agent was also responsible for the aggression [last July 16] against photo-journalist Jordi Borràs, an action that has not been worth any kind of internal sanction (he has not even been shifted from his duties). The brigade, then, is in the eye of the storm.

The BI is a particularly hermetic unit and little is known about its operation. The Barcelona BI was well-known during the Nineties under the name of "VI group"--of infamous memory for many social movement activists. All this is portrayed in the book Chronicles of the VI and Other Samples from the Police Sewer, published 2006 by a journalist from [Barcelona neighbourhood] Gràcia then unknown to the general public, David Fernàndez [later a well-known CUP MP]. We will have to review all that is explained there: cases such as those of the Gràcia three, the arrests of Torá, the constant raids on the okupa movement during the nineties ... [web-based journal] Directe has informed about them in great depth.

The scope of yesterday's police operation, with journalists, mayors and activists detained, shows the time we are living in: a time of degradation of rights and freedoms and consolidation of a low-intensity democracy. A social context in which the police, in this case without protecting themselves with any arrest warrant, feel they can legitimately arrest elected office-holders early in the morning, or even set up an operation in the full light of day with agents all with faces covered  taking away a photo-journalist in a camouflaged car.

It cannot be allowed to become normal for police to arrest mayors, activists and critical journalists for no motive in the middle of the night. Because, as lawyer Benet Salellas, who has assumed the defense of the accused said: the arrests are completely out of proportion. Even if the detainees were responsible for the offenses they are alleged to have committed--which they deny--they are people with a known address, people entrenched in their social environment and people who at no time have had any intention of evading the operation of the legal system. They could simply have been cited to appear in court at a specific time and date to make a statement, as on so many other occasions. That the facts for which they were arrested were not serious is shown by the fact that they were released without even having to declare before the judge.

We need, then, to analyse yesterday's police operation in a political key: we are dealing with a scare tactic. And not only a scare tactic against independence supporters: deep down this was a warning to all those who want to exercise the right to demonstate. It is clear that the operation yesterday does not favor the interests of the PSOE government, which is looking to lower tension so as to encourage independent parties to vote for its budget and guarantee stability. The following question should then be asked: Does central government representative Teresa Cunillera exercise any kind of practical control over the BI agents operating out of her Barcelona "headquarters"? What account do these agents render to their police and political masters? The BI is a body of public servants that survives governments of all colours and ideologies and which is very difficult to control. To whom is it responsible? Who gives the orders? What is their agenda?

Statement by the People's Unity List (CUP)

Week ending January 13

This fortnight's useful reading in English

VilaWeb

• Spain denies NGO rescue boat permission to leave Barcelona’s harbour

• Persecuted as a terrorist--Activist Tamara Carrasco campaigns for an independent Catalonia and has been in house arrest for nine months

• An interview with Andrej Hunko, of Germany's Die Linke party, who has visited the Catalan political prisoners

El Nacional

• The Catalan independence trial: what to expect

• Tracking Carles Puigdemont an "official secret", Spanish government says

• Felipe VI's ode to the Spanish flag: "It's the symbol of unity"

Ara

• Torrent calls for an "in depth" investigation into the decision to assign the October 1 case to Court 13

• The twenty offers of mediation that came up against Rajoy

• Torra calls for unity to bring about "democratic mandate for freedom" in 2019

The New Yorker

• Spain's Open Wounds

Week ending December 31

Comment (El País): Why Vox really is a far-right party

Although its leader Santiago Abascal rejects the label, his ideology is based on populism, nationalism and an identity-based narrative

Week ending December 23

This week's useful reading in English

VilaWeb

• Catalan political prisoners end hunger strike

• Catalan leaders urge political prisoners on hunger strike to stop protest

• Lawyers of Catalan political prisoners denounce infringement of basic rights at initial hearings in Madrid

El Nacional

• Catalan government spokesperson Elsa Artadi on the Catalan government-Spanish government meeting of December 21

• Catalan National Assembly pressures Catalan government on independence: "It's time to get a move on"

• French 'yellow vests' meet Catalan 'yellow ribbons' with a protest and a song

• Detail of this Friday's protests against the Spanish government cabinet meeting in Barcelona

• Supreme Court reduces sentences against Catalan politicians for 2014 vote

• Pre-trial procedures against Catalan political prisoners begin

Ara

• Jailed ministers and Puigdemont to lodge a complaint with the United Nations for a violation of their political rights

• Editorial: Dialogue is a difficult path, but it is the only one

Former Spanish PM Rajoy speaking through mask of present PM Sánchez: "We've come here to talk about what the people are interested in." (Ferreres, Ara, December 21)

• The videos of December 21 protests in Barcelona

• Images of today's actions against the Spanish cabinet meeting in Barcelona

1. Left pro-independence rally, Passeig de Gràcia 2. Demonstators outside cabinet meeting 3. Committee for the Defence of the Republic cuts roadway at Glòries (downtown Barcelona) 4. CDR roadblock cuts freeway near Girona 5. Police and CDR-led demonstration clash in Via Laietana (near building hosting the cabinet meeting)

Protests in Catalonia against Spanish cabinet visit: here’s what happened

At least 11 people were arrested and 46 injured despite heavy security measures

Catalan News

ACN | Barcelona

The Spanish cabinet's unprecedented meeting this Friday in Barcelona sparked protests across Catalonia amid heavy security measures. Pro-independence groups saw the meeting as a provocation and called on supporters to take to the streets. Some demonstrators clashed with police and at least 11 people have been arrested and 46 have been injured.

December 20

Let's take over the streets, win democracy, and build the Republic!

Statement by People's Unity Lists (CUP) affiliate Poble Lliure on the occasion of the December 21 Spanish government cabinet meeting in Barcelona

On Friday 21, the Catalan people are called to stand up against repression, violations of democratic rights, fascism, insults and harassment by the Spanish right, and the apparatus of a corrupt, demophobic State with deep Francoist roots.

December 21 is the anniversary of the great victory of the Catalan independence movement in an election organised by the Spanish government, in the framework of the coup d’état that was the application of article 155, with suspension of Catalan autonomy, and police and
military occupation of our territory. After months of repression, the imprisonment and exile of our legitimate government and leaders of civil society, of persecutions of mayors and public employees, of threats and aggressions, on December 21, 2017 the Catalan people showed its will in favour of self-determination, as it had done in the referendum of October 1.

The defeat at the ballot box of the forces aligned to the Spanish regime a year ago, even with conditions favourable to their interest, led to the deep state and to the Francoist nomenclature that still controls much of the state apparatus to opt definitively for a scorched earth policy.

And so, a year later, the situation has only worsened, with a state that has kept a scale of repression, imprisonment and legal actions worthy of the Erdogan regime. Likewise, the sewers of this post-Franco state and the large Spanish media groups have intensified the campaign of insults, lies and criminalisation of the Catalan republican movement, in a clear drift that aims for our annihilation as a people.

This Friday 21, the Government of Spain is comes to plant its flag in an occupied land, and to humiliate an oppressed people that they want submissive and obedient ... It will not be like that!

On Friday, the Catalan people will decisively again resume the march to their freedom along the road that has brought it within reach: through mass popular mobilisation, civil resistance and active non-violence.

Neither the threats and siren songs regarding a false dialogue under the threat of imprisonment by the Spanish state, nor the opportunist and short-sighted attitude of some Catalan independence leaders will stop our firm decision to tear down the walls of this prison of peoples that the Bourbon monarchy and the regime of 1978 means.

On Friday begins a cycle of civil mobilisations and resistance in the perspective of denouncing the great farce of the trials that Spain wants to carry out against the Catalan people, violating the most basic democratic political rights. We will expose, once again and in the eyes of the whole world, the intrinsically fascist character of the Spanish regime inherited from Francoism and its state apparatus. Demonstrating, once again and definitively, that the only way to democracy for the Catalan people is self-determination and a free, independent and sovereign Republic.

Barcelona, December 20, 2018

December 19

Hunger strikers' letter to Theresa May

carta-mrs-theresa-may.pdf

Backgrounder: TV3 journalist receives messages from Extremadura: 'Are you alright? Do you live in danger?'

El Nacional, Saturday, December 15, 2018

David Gorman
Nicolás Valle has been working for TV3 for nearly 30 years. Born in the province of Cáceres, the journalist developed his entire career in Catalonia. Viewers of ‘Telenotícies’ know him from his war chronicles from Bosnia, Kosovo, Algeria, the Sahara, Afghanistan or Ukraine

It is as a war correspondent that he made a name for himself in the world of journalism. And precisely this could be the reason why he is being asked about a hypothetical situation of civil confrontation in Catalonia. It seems like a bad joke, but it is not.

The journalist Arturo Puente also warns on his Twitter account of a media campaign organized by El País to convince the Spanish public opinion that a pre-war climate is emerging in Catalonia. They speak of “paramilitary bands” who want to “defend a republic that does not exist”. Puente himself explains that relatives and friends from all over the State are contacting him, afraid that Catalonia is on the brink of war.

“And since there are no paramilitary or Kale borroka commandos (urban guerilla groups made up of Basque nationalist youth) or persecuting you for being Spanish or anything like that, I flip when I talk to relatives and friends from outside, because they believe it as if they had seen it. In fact, they have “seen” it on TV and have read it in various newspapers.”

“My grandmother called me after seeing protests on TV believing that Cat(alonia) was literally on fire and that something could happen to me. I am panicked and in despair of the climate of antebellum opinion that is being generated in normal people. Doing it through the media is crazy. We are already paying for it.”

A criticism shared by Nicolás Valle: “Yesterday I received a whatsapp from Plasencia. If we are okay, if we are in danger.” As he explains it, it seems that there are sectors of society that truly believe that there is a civil confrontation in Catalonia.

“Yesterday I received a what’s app from Plasencia [in Extremadura]. Were we well, were we in danger. I told him that we are collecting food and fuel and that the “paramilitary militias” described by El País are creating safe-conduits to cross the city. I had to clarify that this was a joke.”

The reality is that there has been not been any type of violence in the streets of Catalonia, even if there are some sectors waiting in eager anticipation of this possibility. But in some media outlets it seems that the imposed motto is “a lie repeated a thousand times becomes a truth.”

Translation: Catalan News Monitor

Week ending December 16

Banner at Camp Nou match between Tottenham and Barcelona, December 11

Ara survey: Catalonia's really existing consensus

Support for a negotiated referendum and rejection of 155 enjoy very broad support

Jordi Muñoz, Political Commentator

Ines Arrimades, Citizens' leader in the Catalan parliament, demands the reintroduction of article 155 to end Catalan self-rule (Photo: TV3)

Ara, December 15

For a long time now Spanish centralism’s main strategy for curbing Catalan sovereignty has been to divide Catalan society. They have been trying it, are trying it and will continue to try it in all possible ways. And they have created a supporting narrative that talks of a Catalonia divided into two irreconcilable halves. Yet the «Ulsterisation» of Catalonia has never been an analysis of reality but a political program. In fact, Spanish nationalism’s main political program.

Unable to formulate an attractive and coherent proposal, Spanish centralism entrusts everything to its seige of Catalonia, which is what causes Catalan society’s division into two. That’s why [Spanish PSOE prime minister] Pedro Sánchez now thinks that all he has to do to shake off the problem is shift it into Catalonia. That’s also why Citizens has been adopting an increasingly extreme message and behaviour in the Parliament of Catalonia, in a downward spiral that so far shows no signs of ending. And it's what expains the regression in the positions of the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC), which not so long ago defended a legal and agreed referendum and is now flirting again with article 155.

Nonetheless, the independence movement has often had the bad idea of ​​collaborating with this strategy. For example, when it has exhibited some of the tics of the old identity-based nationalism that, once properly exaggerated and manipulated, Spanish nationalism took no time in converting into a throwing spear of its own. Or when it has tried to get the job done without sufficient support, or without being sufficiently sensitive to the experience of an important part of the country. In doing so, it has unduly increased social tension without this having helped it get closer to its goal. Quite the opposite. Fortunately, the majority of the movement for sovereignty today seems to have understood that getting out of the impasse means avoiding a repeat of these mistakes. The fact of the matter is that despite everything Catalan society resists being divided in half.

For a democratic solution

True, positions on independence are frozen and balanced evenly between supporters and opponents. But beyond that there is a broad and all-inclusive area of consensus that has not disappeared. It is the consensus on the right to decide and for a democratic solution. It is the negotiated referendum and rejection of 155 and recentralisation. It is, despite dissent about the best alternative, agreement that the status quo of the monarchy and the Constitution of 1978 does not offer Catalan society a satisfactory institutional framework. It is the area that rejects repression and the violation of civil and political rights.

It is, to a large extent, the sociopolitical area of We Are The 80%, the platform initiated by Òmnium Cultural. And it is what Ara’s opinion survey reflects, confirming previous data that were along the same lines. Now, the existence of this consensus in Catalan public opinion will not by itself be enough to unravel the situation, especially since as matters stand now it is very hard to give it political expression. The centrifugal dynamics of parliamentary competition and the influence of Spanish politics and media pose many difficulties. That’s because the common sense that prevails in Catalonia—that a political and democratic solution is needed, that the status quo is unsustainable and that repression is not a solution--is a minority, eccentric position in Spain. And parties at the Spanish state level always make politicies towards Catalonia with an eye on the rest of Spain, where the radicalisation of the right and the PSOE’s fear of carving out a separate position have been increasingly shrinking the space for finding solutions.

The big challenge now, then, is to make this social consensus operational politically. And that will not be easy.

Summary of December 16 Ara survey of Catalan public opinion

Vote on independence

Other questions

Note: the options in order are: unilateral separation; insisting on negotiation and political pressure to bring about a referendum; give up on the referendum and negotiate an expansion of Catalan self-government; leave matters as they are; withdraw the powers of the Catalan government and recentralise them in Madrid; don't know/no reply

Comment: Jordi Cuixart (Ara)

Human rights vs the snake’s egg

Democracy is about to be put on trial in Catalonia, with the far right and the State working as one, once more

December 12

“If because of ego you think that there's no need to fight, this decision of yours is empty: your own nature will force you to fight.”  Bhagavad Gita 18.59

Friday the head office of Òmnium Cultural (1) was the target of a new fascist attack when a display bearing the word “democracy” was destroyed. We are having a black and white flashback: Spain’s monarchy and politics are stuck in a time tunnel.

In contrast, today marked the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is a reminder that rising against tyranny and oppression is a duty when basic rights are not protected by the state. Not only is civil disobedience legitimate, but it becomes a universal civic duty in the face of injustice and the global drift towards authoritarianism. The totalitarian procedure repeats itself under the umbrella of xenophobic populism, an adaptation of pure fascism that never went away. Fear-mongering and pointing fingers at a common enemy as the target of all the irrational hatred have always been useful tools for the conquest of power. The likes of Hannah Arendt, Viktor Frankl, Palmiro Togliatti, Neus Català, Amos Oz and Rob Riemen set an example that we can use as an antidote and historical memory. With the strength that stems from determination, Leone Ginzburg urged us to “show courage” shortly before being shot dead by a Nazi firing squad.

In the Spanish state, the continuity of the Franco regime is pervasive in the defence of the holy unity of the country through police and institutional violence, through the judicial persecution of dissidence and the violation of individual and collective rights and liberties. The electoral rise of the far right [Vox] is further proof of the charade that we call the Transition (2). By allowing the crimes of the Franco regime to go unpunished, we condemned ourselves to amnesia and to continue suffering their consequences. For this reason the Catalan Republic also becomes an exercise in democratic culture and radicalism.

Democracy is about to be put on trial in Catalonia, with the far right and the State working as one, once more, against anyone who dares to question the 1978 regime (3). The lawsuits filed by Vox provided the ideal electoral platform, hence the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the challenge we filed. Still, we will put in the dock the only EU member state that keeps nine political prisoners in jail, over ten people in exile and hundreds of people prosecuted for defending the right to self-determination.

For all that, we will turn our trial into an international denunciation in support of human rights. The EU keeps ignoring its own fundamental and foundational values, but calls such as those made by Amnesty International and the World Organisation Against Torture are evidence to the fact that the Spanish case will never remain an internal affair. European society cannot put up any longer with the institutional cynicism of recognising political prisoners in Russia (on Wednesday Oleg Senstov, the Ukrainian filmmaker imprisoned by Putin, will receive the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize to the defence of human rights), while flagrant violations of basic rights are permitted in Hungary, Poland and Spain.

As Benet Salellas wrote in his 'Jo acuso. La defensa en judicis polítics' [I Accuse. Defence in Political Trials], we cannot sit on the fence and believe that a political solution will crop up following a hypothetical favourable ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. Sixty years after the Declaration, our fate is bound to this bill of love and courage for which so many men and women gave their very best. This is our humble contribution: we do not wish to leave as free men but as honourable people. The democratic solution to the conflict is a collective cause where we stand for the human condition, its rights and liberties.

Today four good men have been on hunger strike for ten days. Next Sunday it will be one year and two months since we first held in pre-trial detention. But what goes around, comes around: no fear, no sadness, we foster hope and determination. Against the snake’s egg of fascism we know there are thousands of fighters all over the world willing to pursue a decent, shared future. This makes us both enormously happy and unshakeable. Always forward!

Jordi Cuixart is the president of Òmnium Cultural and has been held on remand since 16 October 2017
_________
Translator’s notes (Ara)

(1) Òmnium Cultural is a pro-independence grassroots platform that promotes Catalan culture and language. It has over 100,000 paid members.

(2) and (3) In Spain the Transition is the period immediately after Franco’s death when the country formally transitioned from a dictatorship to a parliamentary democracy. Those who are critical of the current political system often refer to it as the “1978 regime” because the current Spanish Constitution was approved in 1978.

This week's useful articles in English:

VilaWeb

• Carles Puigdemont interview: “There are at least two million Spaniards who want to stop being Spanish”

• European parlaiment elections: Partner of Catalan political prisoner to run in European election. People's Unity Candidates (CUP) not to run

• Sinn Fein MEP Brian Carthy urges European parliament speaker Tajani to speak up following hunger strike by Catalan political prisoners

Ara

• Andalusia: PP, Ciudadanos to form coalition government backed by Vox

• PSOE 'baron' open to outlawing pro-independence parties

El Nacional

• "We're not nervous": Spanish government puts on brave face over Barcelona meeting

• Hunger striker Josep Rull: "The Spanish state is frightening and the Spanish still aren't aware of it"

• Spain's Constitutional Court keeps Catalan Parliament deputies suspended

• 500 politicians from 25 countries sign manifesto in support of Carme Forcadell

• Pedro Sánchez makes a raise in the bidding on threats against Catalonia

• The Sánchez government threatens a new intervention

• Prosecutors to investigate Catalan police for not preventing weekend's protests

• Interview with former education minister Clara Ponsati

Special report

Don’t dare ask Lieutenant-Colonel Baena about Tácito, his trolling Twitter alter-ego

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Baena (second from the left) during the cybersecurity conference day at ESADE (Photo: Vilaweb)

Oriol Bäbler

November 22 : The card on the lecturers’ table says “Daniel Baena”, nothing else. A tall, short-haired man sits behind it. A zigzag vein makes its way down the side of his forehead. He’s wearing jeans and a tie. I guess in appearances at ESADE one can’t appear in uniform. The conference today is about cybersecurity and Daniel Baena, Lieutenant Colonel of the Civil Guard, has been invited as the head of the judicial police of Catalonia. No one has bothered to mention that the man who has signed-off the reports that feed the judicial cases against Catalan independence process had a trolling alter ego on Twitter Tàcito (Tacitus).

The lawman, in some ill-conceived moment of patriotistic heroism, opened a twitter account, and turned into a troll. In his sights were politicians, journalists and the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan Police). These references are in the past tense, not because Baena has changed his opinions – his ideological prejudices continue to taint reports on the independence process – but because Tacitus no longer exists. The account has been deactivated and pearls like this one have been lost: ‘Put the ballot box down on the floor. Slowly. Put your hands behind your head. No sudden movements.” Rather suspiciously, the Lieutenant Colonel has locked down his personal account, which can now only be seen with his permission. Cybersecurity, I suppose.

The moderator of the event, Mario Sol, co-director of the ESADE Masters in IT & IP, is charged with introducing the speakers to the auditorium. Baena is done last. Obviously, Tácito’s name isn’t mentioned at all. “Much decorated, the Lieutenant Colonel graduated in political science and has a master’s degree in security and resolution of civil, political and armed conflicts,” says Sol. The Lieutenant Colonel cracks a half smile, presumably finding the name of his master’s degree ironically humorous in the current political context.

As the conference goes on, in his first intervention, Baena compares the internet to the jungle and asserts that public institutions are poorly adapted in the area of ​​cybersecurity. “They are not sufficiently aware of what is at risk”, he says. At the table, the Lieutenant Colonel is a voice of authority, the voice of what is called the rule of law (the grey area of which goes wilfully ignored).

There are empty seats in the stalls, despite the free and generous breakfast. Between the backs of the seats there are lolling heads, shut eyes, and a good number of lit mobile phone screens. On one side of me, a man covers his face with one hand. He is not angry at the hypocrisy dancing about on the stage. Not ashamed. This is because he is asleep.  His accreditation hangs limply to one side, from his neck. On the lapel of the jacket he has a pin with the Spanish and Catalan flags. Had I had one, I would have offered a pillow, really.

Later in the debate, there a classic exchange between the moderator and the Lieutenant Colonel:

– Mario Sol: We’ve covered technological issues, of course, but we mustn’t forget that even in the digital era, human beings remain in charge of rewards and punishments. The necessary ‘repression’ of the bad guys … We must continue to pursue chase them down. That is why we have Lieutenant Colonel Baena, who will answer how a cyber attack can lead to criminal investigation and prosecution.
– Daniel Baena: Well, we don’t repress the bad guys, we redirect them, and put them at the disposition of the justice system, so that the system can do what it is meant to.

A beautiful answer, really. Too bad that if we apply it to other contexts, it coms completely undone in an instant. Remember this comes from the person who signs off the myriad police reports, many shown to be full of fantasy, which allow the “system to do what it is meant to”, and preventively imprison nine people.

After an hour of debate, the moderator opens up the discussion to questions from the audience. Up went my hand, but I get sidelined, and they move on.  I manage to flag the girl with the microphone and agree to go second. She is on the other side of the room. Thirty uncomfortable seconds go by as she approaches. Nobody says anything, but the speakers stare me down. I can hear the heels of her shoes – amplified by the microphone she is bringing me – clicking across the tiles. Tac, Tac, Tac, Tac … I have never liked microphones. I can finally ask about Tacitus. The girl gives me the microphone and this is what takes place:

Journalist [P.]: My question is for Mr. Baena in relation to information published by the newspaper Público, and it is to ask him why he managed a false account on Twitter with the name of Tacitus, criticizing and accusing politicians, journalists and the Mossos d’Esquadra? And if…
-Mario Sol [M. S.]: [cuts in] We have come to talk about cybersecurity …
-P.: Right, why …
-M.S.: Not of this type of …
-P.: Seriously! I think it’s very …
-M.S.: If you don’t mind, ask a question about the theme of …
-P.: I think it is quite relevant that a speaker at a conference on cybersecurity…
-M. S.: Maybe in another forum. Not in this one.
-P.: I do not know, I’d argue he’s discredited as a speaker if he manages fake accounts on Twitter and trolls politicians.
-M.S.: I understand but here we have come to learn and talk about cybersecurity …
-P.: Yes, and benefit from his experience, because it seems that he dominates both sides of the equation, security, and the converse…
-M.S.: Thank you very much.

You can listen to the audio here:

https://imatges.vilaweb.cat/nacional/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ESADE-censura-un-periodista-de-VilaWeb.m4a

I stayed quiet, and stayed in my seat. This time Baena did not need to hide behind a fake twitter profile, he was being directly protected by the ESADE moderator. Questions go by and nobody alludes to the Tacitus affair. The Lieutenant Colonel maintains his frozen rictus sardonicus, as if he’s brought a special mask for a question that he expected sooner or later. Finally, Sol ends the debate and I realize that the man to my side has finally woken up.

At the exit, before I turned in my accreditation, I’m approached by two communications people from ESADE. Their perspective is stunning. They tell me it’s bad form to bring up a political question in a space for debate about cyber-security. Well they’ve told me! I should have stayed and taken my revenge at the catered lunch.

* A small reminder, the Civil Guard has not taken any measure against Daniel Baena since the disclosure of the Tacitus affair.

Original Link: https://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/no-preguntin-per-tacito-al-tinent-coronel-baena/

Source: Vilaweb Translation: Catalan News Monitor

Comment: Ara editor Esther Vera

On paths and cliffs

Catalonia hasn’t flirted with violence and it is precisely its massive, peaceful nature that affords the pro-independence movement the credibility it enjoys today

Are we going to go the way of Slovenia, Scotland or Quebec? Or none of those three? How will Spain choose to act? Like Serbia, the UK or Canada? Catalonia’s path will likely be her own, unless the wealth of credibility amassed to date by the pro-independence movement is squandered, grassroots support declines and it is radicalised by the lack of unity and the prevailing political confusion.

The Catalan way has always been about demanding an internationally recognised referendum, rejecting violence and staging mass demonstrations that are exemplary and peaceful, not about fringe groups wearing hoodies who jeopardise the Catalan police force. Independence support in Catalonia has risen to 47.5 per cent in just a few years on its own merit —it has managed to build an alternative based on republican values— and on the mistakes of the other camp, whose scorn, violence and politically-biased judicial crackdown on the independence leadership have fuelled Catalonia’s grievances.

Catalonia hasn’t flirted with violence and it is precisely its massive, peaceful nature that affords the pro-independence movement the credibility it enjoys today in a context where the EU sets the standards of acceptability. We will not be Slovenia and our future cannot be “tragic”. President Quim Torra must make a lucid, courageous interpretation of how far the Catalan leadership managed to go on October 27 and the reasons for that. His interpretation must prioritise our nation’s overall interest and the dignity of Catalonia’s institutions over partisan self-interest.

Week ending December 9

Support the Catalan hunger strikers! Sign here!

December 9: This week's useful articles in English

El Nacional

• Catalan organization in exile Council for the Republic is launched in Brussels

• Clashes between Catalan police and anti-fascist demonstrators

• Catalan president says visit to Slovenia has "broken the international silence"

• Fasting protests begin in support of Catalan prisoners' hunger strike

• Torra opens a crisis in the interior ministry

December 5: Jordi Sànchez explains why he has decided to start hunger strike

In support of life and freedom

Ara

The decision to go on a hunger strike is not a course of action that is embarked upon lightly. Not because one needs special physical preparation, but because it requires a great deal of reflection to resolve the doubts it raises. Not only because of the effects on your body but, above all, for the strain it has on your family and friends, on the people who love you.

This explains why the decision to go on a hunger strike can only ever be a personal one, strictly personal. It is a supreme exercise in sovereignty. The decision to start a hunger strike can in no way be seen as more courageous than the decision not to start one. It must be understood from the beginning that this type of protest is not an attempt to appear before public opinion as the strongest, the bravest, the most daring of the lot. A hunger strike is not a demonstration of anything and much less a form of competition with anyone, not even with oneself.

Undoubtedly, it is an act of conscience and personal sovereignty, as Lluís Maria Xirinachs¹ was fond of saying. But equally remarkable is the exercise in personal awareness and sovereignty that leads one not to start a hunger strike after reflecting on a host of factors which affect us all as individuals. I myself, at other times, have decided against taking this same course of action during personal circumstances which are different to those which I now find myself in.

It is certainly an extreme act of protest against a blatant case of injustice which has not been resolved and which has been going on for a long time. The strength of a hunger strike lies in the fact that it openly appeals to the feelings that each individual possesses, even those who commit injustices, and that it is closely tied to the values and principles of nonviolence.

More than any other nonviolent action, hunger strikes have the power to appeal to people’s consciences because they speak directly to their hearts. It is very difficult for a person who knows they are being spoken to directly by a hunger strike not to feel it.

Nonviolence directs its action straight to the hearts of those who commit injustice. And it does so with the conviction that sooner or later everyone may find themselves in the position to abandon injustice, and even to put an end to the violence which they have been hiding behind for so long. The basic principle of nonviolence is to treat one’s adversary, even one’s oppressor, as first and foremost a human being. With the same potential as we have to feel excitement, to feel compassion, to feel respect, to reject injustice and to feel for the suffering of others. It is not always easy, and nonviolence is not always capable of awakening people’s conscience or feelings. This is true. But neither is violence always capable of winning, though it is always capable of destroying, often causing irreparable damage.

In this case our hunger strike is a direct appeal to the twelve Constitutional Court judges. They are applying a decision that is causing us irreparable harm. By agreeing to see all our appeals while failing to rule on any of them, they are depriving us of our right to take our case to the European Court of Human Rights. A hunger strike is the last resort available to us to demand fair and just treatment. We have been waiting for over a year for some appeals to be heard, when we shouldn’t have waited more than 30 days. This is the time-limit, according to the legislation and the Constitutional Court’s own rulings, for resolving appeals on judicial decisions regarding prison on remand.

When one is in jail, it is not possible to carry out other nonviolent political actions to expose instances of grave injustice. If we had others, believe me, we would not have started a hunger strike. Because a hunger strike is not a fast. It is important that everyone understands the difference. Fasting is for a limited period and, aside from those who do it for health reasons or as part of their spiritual practice, it is usually performed as an act of solidarity and empathy towards others or to support just causes. A hunger strike, on the other hand, has no preset end-by date and is openly associated with a political protest or demand, with the intention of shaking people’s consciences.

Those who associate a hunger strike with the willing destruction of one's own body and of life itself are mistaken.If there is one thing that defines the tradition of nonviolence (of which Gandhi is a shining example), it is its devotion to and defence of life; of both your opponents and your own. No one wishes to live and to be free as much as those who are behind bars. We love life and freedom so much that we are taking extreme measures, going on a hunger strike, to denounce a truly unjust situation, since we are aware that the longer we are prevented from taking our case to the European Court of Human Rights, the longer the recovery of our freedom will be delayed. And life in prison can’t be called living. Even less so if one has been sent to prison unjustly.

Footnote

1. Lluís María Xirinachs was a pacifist priest, author, senator and leader of movements for Catalan sovereignty and independence, famous for his advocacy of non-violent civil disobedience and passive resistance, including hunger strikes. He conducted a one-man protest outside Barcelona's Model Prison in 1975 until all political prisoners of Francoism were released. Xirinachs was frequently jailed for his stands.

December 4: Two more Catalan political prisoners join hunger strike

Coverage in English

• Former Catalan ministers Forn and Rull join hunger strike (Ara)

• Forn and Rull join Catalan political prisoners' hunger strike (El Nacional)

December 2: Results of the Andalusian regional election

See: Socialists lose ground in Andalusia, extreme right party takes 12 seats

Week ending December 2

December 2: This week's useful articles in English

El Nacional

• Catalan prisoners Sànchez and Turull start hunger strike and decry court obstruction

• Conversation with Jordi Sànchez, on day 1 of his hunger strike: "This is serious"

• Puigdemont to visit Belgian parliament on Tuesday, as prisoners' hunger strike continues

Vilaweb

• How Spain uses its Constitutional Court to prevent Europe from protecting the rights of Catalonia’s political prisoners

• Six reasons why Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell should have resigned and hasn’t done so yet

• Cashiered army officer Luis Gonzalo Segura: “The Spanish army has adopted NATO’s standards but remains Francoist at heart”

Ara

• Jordi Sànchez on Spanish justice: 'I have been held in prison unjustly for more than 400 days. I will hold out as long as it takes, but they will not silence me'

Main results of the 2018 opinion study of the Institute of Political and Social Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona

1. With respect to the Spanish state, Catalonia should be...

(Options are: a region of Spain; an Autonomous Community of Spain's [Catalonia's present status]; a State within a Federal Spain; an independent State

2. For and against independence

(Options are: an independent State; part of Spain; indifferent; don't know)

3. How would you vote in a referendum on independence?

(Options are: vote in favour; vote against; not vote; vote informal; don't know/no reply)

4. How do you want the independence process to end? How do you think it will end?

(Options are: with independence for Catalonia; with an agreement between Catalonia and Spain for more self-government; with the process being abandoned; don't know/no reply)

Analysis: A caretaker government up until the trial

Division is blocking any medium term project

Maiol Roger, political editor, Ara

November 25

"Effective government" was the expression used by Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to justify the fact that, despite the promise of restoring [the Puigdemont government] on which they stood at the December 21 election, the new cabinet would not count on any of the ministers from its predecessor.  It was this mania--classic in the [independence] Process—for sticking an adjective in front of everything so that it doesn’t look like the same old stuff.  But in the case of the Quim Torra executive, not even the adjective works: at present this government has shown that it can’t be described as effective.

Obviously, in any analysis the exceptional nature of the situation must be stressed: with prisoners and exiles and the constant threat of a return to [a Spanish government takeover under article]155 any policy gets carried out as if treading on eggshells. However, the reality is that the main reason for the hold-up is the fratricidal fight between JxCat and ERC. Unity hangs by a thread and the likelihood of early elections, now being sniffed out for the New Year, locks the parties into pre-election mode and puts off all unessential debates sine die.

This explains why the budget doesn’t seem a priority and why the majority of the Parliament assumes that there won’t be one, for yet another year.[i]  Refusing to entertain the main demands of the Commons[ii] may be a negotiating strategy—offering the very least  at the outset so as not to give away too much in the end—but it is also proof that JxCat and ERC want to avoid opening a can of worms that in the past has taken the government to the point of being blown apart—that of taxes[iii]. Division over the issue is now much less--curiously, the main defect attributed to PDECat, ideological vagueness, now becomes a virtue that a part of JxCat boasts about—but the executive cannot allow the fratricidal fight to spread here as well. The card that was played to save the day in 2016, a meeting at the highest level between the President and the Minister of Economy, has already been played in this legislature over the divisions in Parliament[iv].

In this atmosphere, it is hard to see how matters can shift even the slightest and allow the creation of a joint medium-term project that goes beyond commonplaces. Another example: foreign policy. The department [for foreign relations] has been quick to reopen the delegations abroad [closed down under the article 155 intervention], but coordination with Brussels and the Council for the Republic remains a mystery. Why did Ernest Maragall, in his time as minister, not make a single visit to Carles Puigdemont? He himself explained it yesterday in his interview with Ara: "Because of the debate [between JxCat and ERC] I wasn’t able to visit Puigdemont in Waterloo with the freedom I would have wanted. We have been going through situations that seemed to counsel against it."[v]

This inaction is not just a sensation: it is backed up by the figures. Although there is the excuse that there was no government until the end of May, the arrival of ministers has not resulted in any frantic legislative activity: only seven bills are presently passing through parliament and none of the three measures adopted by the chamber this year came from the executive.

Certainly, it is not the first time that this has happened, but so far the deadlines of the Process hid everything: the 18 months towards independence, then the referendum and then the declaration of independence served to justify the concentration of all efforts on a single point. But now, apart from protesting against repression, there is no strategy and the horizon is undefined: the focus is on the coming trial of the prisoners, but beyond saying that "the citizens will react” there is no plan. And if they do react, what will happen? What is the point of repeating “October 1, October 1” if neither JxCat nor ERC have explained what they would have done differently then so as to avoid the situation being what it is now? The Government governs, but it looks like a caretaker administration. At least until the trial begins.

Footnotes

November 28: Responses to Borrell

* Carles Puigdemont‏

We express our solidarity and respect to the all native american peoples. @AIndianMovement, you are right: the Spanish minister has expressed himself like a racist, supremacist and denialist. The EU should not have a minister like that. And thank you so much for your support!

* AIndianMovement‏ @AIndianMovement

Racist Spanish Foreign Minister @JosepBorrellF says this about US pre-independence history: "The only thing that they had done was kill 4 Indians". What a supremacist, denialist, and pathetic way to describe a genocide. Long live Free @CataloniaHelp2

November 28: Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell at a Complutense event: "All the US did was to kill a handful of Indians" Spain’s foreign minister declares that there is more political integration in the United States because everyone shares "the same language".

Video

November 26: Basque left pro-independence coalition EH Bildu to propose to December 14 assembly that it run in next year's European elections on a platform with the Republican Left of Catalonia and the Galician Nationalist Bloc, with jailed ERC leader Oriol Junqueras as lead candidate.

Week ending November 25 (blog resumed November 22)

November 25: This week's useful articles in English

Vilaweb

• The World Organisation Against Torture calls for the release of two Catalan political prisoners

• Alfred Bosch takes office as Catalan foreign minister

• Spain to give Kosovo sportspeople visas and allow national symbols

El Nacional

• Catalonia distances itself from Spain, aligns itself with the UK over Brexit

• Spain's PP tries (and fails) to stop a music festival "for freedom" in Brussels

• Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO) poll: Pro-independence parties would consolidate majority in Catalan parliament

Catalan News Monitor

• Citizens and PP abstain in the condemnation of the Franco regime in the Senate

• ERC, PDeCAT, Podemos and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) ask the European Commission to act to “guarantee” a “fair trial” in the case of the October 1 referendum

Ara

• Sebastià Alzamora: A Streetcar Named Wickedness (Citizens charter a bus to campaign against a hypothetical pardon for Catalonia’s political prisoners)

• "We’ll control the second chamber from behind the scenes": PP Senate leader Cosidó's whatsapp boasting virtues of deal with PSOE over control of Spain's 'independent judiciary'

• Policeman admits a colleague struck voters with truncheon outside Barcelona polling station on October 1

• More than 120 law professors and lecturers reject the charges of rebellion and sedition against Catalonia’s political prisoners (see translation of statement below)

November 22: Statement by 120 law lecturers in Spanish universities on the charges of rebellion and sedition being brought against the nine Catalan leaders in preventive detention

Now that the State Prosecutor-General's Office and the State Solicitor-General have presented their provisional conclusions in writing to the Supreme Court and the National High Court, we the undersigned lecturers in law in Spanish universities are compelled to express our legal opinion, given the historical importance for Spanish democracy of the criminal procedure under way [against the Catalan prisoners].

The Prosecutor considers that certain actions of members of the Mossos d'Esquadra [the Catalan police], the Catalan Parliament and Government and of the social leaders of the Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural give rise to the crime of rebellion under article 472 of the Penal Code. However, such a crime requires a violent and public uprising. It should be stressed in this regard that in our opinion it is an error to consider the events which took place on September 20 [mass peaceful protest outside the Catalan finance ministry] and on October 1, 2017 [the referendum carried out despite police and Civil Guard repression] as meeting the definition of violence as specified by article 472 of the Criminal Code.

Moreover, the interpretation made of the requirement of violence departs from the doctrine that the Constitutional Court laid down when analysing the crime of rebellion. According to the Constitutional Court's sentence 199 of 1987, which justified the extension to the offence of rebellion of the exceptional criminal and procedural measures provided for in Article 55.2 of the Constitution (dealing with the actions of armed gangs or terrorist elements), the parliamentary discussion of this concept established "an explicit equivalence between terrorism and rebellion as involving an attack on the democratic system and the substitution of the form of Government and State freely elected by the citizens. It is true that Article 55.2 does not expressly mention rebels, but only armed bands or terrorist elements (...) but, by definition, rebellion is carried out by a group that has as its purpose the illegitimate use of weapons of war or explosives with the goal of producing the destruction or overthrow of the constitutional order." And it concludes: "Therefore, the suspension of rights to which the constitutional provision refers is legitimately applicable to such rebels as fulfil the concept of armed band under Article 55.2."

Nor do we believe that the crime of sedition under article 544 of the Criminal Code applies in this case, because at no time has any evidence been produced that the accused induced, provoked or staged any riotous uprising so as to prevent compliance with the law--unless the interpretation is that it is enough to urge use of the right to demonstrate, that is, to exercise a basic right. And that without being able to attribute to the defendants that specific action as occurring beforehand, afterwards or in league with other parties, because in Criminal Law the principle of subjective responsibility  for the actions concerned applies, not that of objective liability.

With regard to the crime of rebellion under article 472, the Prosecutor-General's office maintains that from the beginning  the accused planned to use violence with the ultimate goal of achieving the independence of Catalonia and secession from the central State. How did they carry this out, it asks, and replies: through the riotous action of thousands of citizens, instigated by them and with the collaboration of the Mossos.

For the prosecution, therefore, the danger lies in inciting mobilisations, that is, it makes the exercise of basic rights a crime. Furthermore, we believe that the interpretation that has been made of the categories of rebellion and sedition opens the door to a trivialisation of preventive detention that is practically unheard of in a democracy and which recalls a sad past: that is why the 1995 legislator restricted it to cases involving material harm clearly greater than in the current case.

The result of an inappropriate recourse to preventive detention is what we now see: the demand for very long sentences whose concordance with the principle of proportionality (which should guide all legal interpretation of the law) is highly questionable. Only by very seriously violating the principles of criminal law can it be affirmed that the accused, in light of the facts attributed to them, were able to carry out this crime of rebellion or that of conspiracy to rebel (which requires agreement to carry out a rebellion with the same level of violence).

However, the only thing that the Prosecutor-General's office has so far demonstrated is that, with the  same goal in mind, all the mobilisations carried out only sought a referendum through peaceful and democratic means. In its persistent desire to uncover the existence of violence, the Prosecutor-General's office essentially focuses on the events that took place on September 20 and October 1 and 3. Moreover, it goes so far as to say that the fact that the use of violence was not planned from the beginning does not prevent us from considering that, after the events of those days, it was decided to continue with the calling of the referendum, accepting the risk of the committing of violent acts and other confrontations.

Well, neither the events of September 20, 2017 nor those of October 1 or 3, 2017 give rise to the violence required by article 472 of the Criminal Code. On the other hand, and inasmuch as the crime of sedition is concerned, it is worth remembering that it is being systematically resorted to (article 544) to repress and silence citizen movements that practice, in a peaceful way, the right of demonstration, assembly and protest.

In conclusion: we also cannot forget the no lesser question of the incompetence of the National High Court that initiated the process, corrupting all successive work. From a strictly legal perspective (and without entering into political considerations) we demand respect for the principle of criminal legality and the  investigation of everything that the Rule of Law, and that alone, authorises and obliges, because only within those margins can there be opportunity, fairness and Justice. The first step that should be taken is the release of the nine people who remain in preventive detention for non-existent crimes.

November 24: French Communist Party (PCF) votes at its 2018 congress to offer places on its list for the European elections to Catalan political prisoners.

November 22: The shire of Berguedà multiplies percentage of waste recycled from 29% to 70% by introducing a door-to-door collection system combined with fines for leaving rubbish in the street.

Document: Catalonia's law on a Guaranteed Minimum Income

See the Catalan Parliament's translation of this July 2017 law here

Week ending July 22

July 17: Catalan government says it will propose that it take over airport administration (presently run by the Spanish State via the company AENA).

July 17: Catalan parliament speaker Torrent insists that the six Catalan MPs suspended by oder of judge Pablo Llarena will not lose their seats. The parliament's legal advisers say that they can be "temporarily suspended" with others acting their place but without losing their seats.

News (Vilaweb, July 13)

Lawyers of former Catalan President will take case to the German Constitutional Court

Defense expresses conviction that Germany 'does not want to play any part in the criminalisation of a democratic behavior'

The defense team for the exiled and deposed former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will take his case to the German Constitutional Court. This, following the decision of the German court to accept the official’s extradition on the grounds of misuse of public funds but to reject it on those of rebellion.

One of leading lawyers, Catalan Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, said in an interview with the Catalan public TV that “it might be a denial of the extradition in two steps.” He referred to a first step being the rejection of rebellion by theDefense expresses conviction that Germany ‘does not want to play any part in the criminalisation of a democratic behavior’ on Thursday, and the second one potentially by the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rejecting the extradition also for misuse of funds.

In a previous statement, the German attorneys highlighted that the extradition to Spain was rejected on the grounds of rebellion and that the Schlewig-Holstein court did not go in depth about whether or not he committed the crime of misuse of public funds.

Puigdemont can’t be tried for rebellion in Spain

The German lawyers further expressed conviction that Germany “does not want to play any part” in the “criminalization of a democratic behavior.” They added that the arrest warrant has not been set in motion yet and that their client is complying with the court’s orders.

The defense team led by attorney Wolfgang Schomburg detailed that rejecting extradition for rebellion means that the Spanish judiciary will no longer be able to try their client for said crime. They express that Puigdemont is being taken to court “only for having carried out a democratic referendum.”

Puigdemont:  “We’ll fight until the end, and we will win!”

For his part, Puigdemont reacted on his Twitter account. “We’ve struck down the main lie upheld by the State,” he wrote. “The German judiciary denies that the October 1 referendum was rebellion. Every minute that our colleagues spend in prison is a minute of shame and injustice. We’ll fight until the end, and we will win!” he tweeted.

The minister for presidency and Catalan government spokesperson, Elsa Artadi, also stated that Puigdemont’s defense will appeal the decision. Regards the deposed president’s alleged crime of misuse of public funds for the October 1 independence referendum, Artadi said: “We will continue fighting, because it’s clear that it didn’t exist.”

Translation: Vilaweb

July 16: Belgian government refuses the request of Spanish foreign minister Borrell to intervene in case brought against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena by Catalan leaders in exile and requiring him to appear in a Belgian court.

July 16: Carles Puigdemont, Quim Torra and Jordi Sánchez launch National Call for the Republic, an attempt to regroup and expand the base of pro-independence forces.

July 16: José Luis Ábalos, Spanish infrastructure minister and PSOE organisational secratry, says that Sánchez government will not order prosecutor-general to stop investigating October 1 referendum.

July 16: Roger Torrent (speaker, Catalan parliament): "Does Pedro Sánchez want a frank dialogue or does he want to follow the theses of Mr Borrell?"

Week ending July 15

July 15: Latest GESOP poll shows ERC as leading party in pro-independence camp, with CUP also gaining seats and JxCat losing. In unionist camp, PSC advances and Citizens retreats. Pro-independence forces retain their majority.

July 15: Spanish foreign minister Josep Borell delivers speech to Catalan Civil Society arguing that the right to self-determination doesn't effectively exist.

July 14: Òmnium Cultural video demanding release and return of Catalan political prisoners and exiles (below).

July 14: View of demonstration, which went from Plaça d'Espanya to the now-closed Model Prison (below).

July 14: (Below) Lead banner ("Neither jail nor exile, we wan't you home") of today's Barcelona demonstration in support of the imprisoned and exiled MPs and social movement leaders, estimated at between 120,000 (municipal police) and 200,000 (organisers).

July 13: Carmen Calvo,spokesperson of the PSOE government, announces that Spanish government will withdraw opposition to Catalan social legislation held up in the Constitutional Court by the appeals of the previous PP government.

Comment (Antoni Maria Piqué, El Nacional, July 12)

German judges demolish the legal, political and media strategy against the Catalan referendum

Ferreres, Ara, July 13
The decision by the higher regional court of Schleswig-Holstein to extradite president Carles Puigdemont for misuse of public funds alone is a very hard blow to Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena's strategy and, by extension, to the strategy of the Second (Penal) Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court, chaired by judge Manuel Marchena, and to the strategy of the political and media troupe that have accompanied him. It won't be possible to put Puigdemont on trial for rebellion. It's the worst news for Llarena, since all his decisions (confirmed by his Second Chamber colleagues on appeal) have pointed in the same direction: there was violence during last year's Catalan referendum and, as such, a rebellion, planned by the Catalan government, Parliament, "civil society" and "advisers and ideologues" --a "criminal organisation", according to the judge.

As it happens, the first decision Llarena himself took in the case, after it was transferred from the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) on 24th November 2017, was to withdraw the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in Belgium against the ministers in exile that had been brought by National High Court judge Carmen Lamela. He had taken on the case just ten days earlier. Llarena exposed himself to continental ridicule for a single reason: he was afraid that Belgian justice wouldn't accept the charge of rebellion and he wanted to keep alive the possibility of trying Puigdemont, eight ministers, the Parliament's speaker and the 'Jordis' [Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, at the time presidents of the ANC and Òmnium Cultural respectively] for the crime. He wanted to maintain the narrative put together by judge Lamela with the reports from the Civil Guard and the Spanish police.

It's been two days since the judge closed the investigation, constructed around the story of rebellion, the story simultaneously spread from day one by the majority of Spanish politicians and media. The German court has knocked it down like a house of cards.

The nightmare

Llarena (and his chamber of the Supreme Court) are thus facing their nightmare, the great fear that showed through in the order withdrawing the EAWs: that some of those accused in their investigation (the exiles) might not be tried for the same charges as the rest (the prisoners). They were especially scared that rebellion would be discounted.

This charge is the heart of the general case against the independence movement. As well as Puigdemont, it's been brought against Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa, Josep Rull, Carme Forcadell, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart (all in pretrial detention) as well as Toni Comín, Clara Ponsatí and Marta Rovira (in exile in Belgium, Scotland and Switzerland, respectively).

In his EAW charge, Llarena described (in the conditional - grammatically hedging his bets) the rebellion as a "crime with multiple subjects", in other words, a single crime committed by various people who had shared out roles, thus making it advisable to try all those who took part at the same time, not just some of them. For this reason all the cases were brought together in a single one. According to the judge,If the extradition were to come accompanied by a ban on trying them for rebellion, it would negatively affect the whole case.

He argued: "After issuing the arrest warrants... it has been determined that the events could have been perpetrated with the agreement of all those under investigation and with an inseparable legal unity, that is, that the assignment of the different criminal liabilities has to be done jointly, because otherwise the coherence of the case could be broken, leading the trial process to contradictory and divergent responses for the different participants".

The decision from the German court is a direct torpedo against this argument.

"Criminal organisation"

What's more, if there was no rebellion according to the German court, nor was there any violence or "criminal organisation" behind it. That complicates the task of justifying the imposition of pre-trial detention and provides reasons for those potentially facing it to go into exile.

To show the consequences of prison, it's enough to remember that as many as ten of the thirteen accused of rebellion stood in last year's Catalan election in December and couldn't exercise their political rights normally. This seriously affected the Parliament and the government, since they all won seats and the majority accepted nominations as ministers. Among those affected are three who were nominated as candidates for president.

The Belgian and Scottish judges who have to decide on the other accused will take note of the German decision. Even if any of them do find in favour of extraditing another suspect for rebellion, the fact that they cannot all be tried for the same crimes is already affecting the "unity of the case" Llarena so desires, as well as his theory of a "crime with multiple subjects".

In the ruling to withdraw the EAWs, Llarena also argued that, if the Belgian judge had allowed the extradition of the exiled Catalan politicians for only some of the crimes but not all of them, it would have introduced a "substantial distortion" for the others charged "who could be investigated and sent to trial for the charges that the investigating judge is considering, putting them in a worse legal situation than those who have fled."

That is precisely what the German court has just done. But not in the way the Spanish judge feared, thinking only about his own investigation, but rather by improving the chances for the rest of those facing charges, giving their defence a high-quality legal argument for the hearings and possible appeals ahead.

A political investigation

Moreover, from this Thursday on anyone can use the sentence from the Schleswig-Holstein court to describe the case headed by Llarena (and Lamela) and the investigative work by the state's security forces to support the case that it is as being "political".

In the December ruling, Llarena gave another reason to withdraw the EAW. "Those under investigation seem to have shown their intention to return to Spain, with the aim of taking possession of and exercising the positions to which they were elected to in the [December 21] elections they recently stood in". Since he simultaneously maintained the Spanish arrest warrant, Llarena was saying that they would be arrested when they returned to Spanish territory to take up their posts.

This argument has aged badly. After the result of that election (another, unexpected, pro-independence majority) all Llarena's decisions (and those of the other Spanish courts, including the Constitutional Court) have gone in the same direction: that of preventing the elected representatives under investigation from exercising their political rights, including threatening the Catalan Parliament's speakership panel.

The reason to short-circuit and interfere in the lives of the accused and Parliament was none other than the seriousness of the charge of rebellion. Thanks to the higher regional court of Schleswig-Holstein, this all now looks ridiculous.

Translation: El Nacional, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

June 12: Reactions to the Schleswig-Holstein court decision:

• Juan Carlos Girauta (spokeperson of Citizens in the Spanish Congress): "A contemptible piece of rubbish...instead of advancing towards a common European space of law, we are retreating towards a European space of impunity."
• Spanish government says that it makes no comment on legal decisions, but hopes that all charged will face Spanish courts.
• Catalan president Quim Torra: "Today more than ever I feel the enormous disgrace that it is to have political prisoners."
• Esteban Gonález Pons (PP spokesperson in the European Parliament): "Today it has become clear that if we don't trust each other we can't remove borders. We removed borders in the conviction that others would do likewise and, if some delinquent escaped, he would be returned to us. But if alleged delinquents escape and our partners don't send them back, we should think about returning to imposing borders."
• Pere Aragonès (Catalan vice-president): "The Spanish right and a part of the Spanish left would like to see Carles Puigdemont descending from a aircraft in handcuffs."

June 12: Tweet of Carles Puigdemont: "We have defeated the [Spanish] State's main lie. The German legal system denies that the October 1 referendum was a rebellion. Each minute that passes with our comrades in jail is a minute of shame and injustice. We shall fight to the end and we shall win!"

June 12: German court decides to extradite Puigdemont only for misuse of public funds, not rebellion. He has one month to appeal to the German Constitutional Court against the decision.

News (Vilaweb, July 11)

Removal of Francoist symbols from public places in Catalonia will be obligatory

Catalan Justice ministry to put forward historical memory law

The Eagle of Saint John is still flying over some spots in Catalonia. It was one of the top symbols of the Franco regime, alongside badges with the yoke and a set of arrows. Now 43 years after the Spanish dictator’s death, it can still be found on façades and public buildings in various spots throughout the country. The amount of Francoist symbols has been reduced over the years, but some still persist, including a monument in the Ebre river in Tortosa (picture).

The Catalan justice minister, Ester Capella, announced on Wednesday that her department will put forward an historical memory law that will make the removal of Francoist symbols from public spaces obligatory.” The new historical memory law will be a tool to heal wounds and finish with the mourning,” said Capella in Parliament.

The legislation will enable the Catalan government to withdraw Francoist symbols in streets and squares, annul awards and change names of streets paying tribute to people related to dictatorships or crimes against humanity. This, even if town halls oppose the decisions.

Translation: Vilaweb

July 11: Torra: "We shall not ask any of our MPs to stand down."

July 11: President Torra visits Edinburgh, where he meets with former education minister Clara Ponsati, facing deportation hearings, and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon (below).

July 11: CUP calls for order of Judge Llarena to be disobeyed.

News (El Nacional, July 11)

Supreme Court condemns Spain for not meeting EU's refugee quota

Judges from Spain's Supreme Court have condemned the country for not meeting its international obligations towards refugees. In 2015, it had promised the European Council to relocate 19449 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy over the next two years.

According to the court, between 25th September 2015 and 26th September 2017, Spain only processed 12.85% of the relocations it was meant to, 15,000 too few, despite the fact that the European Council's decisions were "binding and compulsory". As such, it orders the Spanish state "to continue the processing as planned" and "in accordance with the agreements that the EU institutions may adopt from here on".

The judges have taken the decision in response to an appeal filed by the Suport a Stop Mare Mortum Association against the dismissal by silence of a request they had presented to the Spanish government in 2017. In the request, the association asked that the state be declared to have failed to fulfil its obligations and to have not complied with the European Council's decisions and asked the Spanish government to be ordered to "immediately" and "urgently" fulfil its commitments.

The ruling explains that the state's lawyer was opposed to the complaints, believing them baseless. Rajoy's executive claimed that the Spanish state was carrying out the necessary steps to claim and relocate the refugees assigned to them, but that the process was laborious because they had to check whether all the people in question met the precise conditions.

Spain also asked to take the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU to clarify whether it is up to the European Commission to check compliance with emergency decisions or whether the courts of each state can also do so. The judges dismissed this last request, saying that the Supreme Court can.

The judges say that Spain only fulfilled 12.85% of the 19,449 relocations they were meant to do: "they should have made offers to and relocated 13,086 asylum seekers from Greece and 6,363 from Italy". They also note that the country turned down the possibility of reducing their quota by 30%.

All in all, they conclude that Spain "has failed to fulfil its obligations to offer and realise the relocations they were obliged to" and "more than half a year after the deadline, the report from the Office of Asylum and Refugees admits that the [rate of] fulfilment of its final obligations is under 13%".

By 4th March 2018, Spain had only offered 2,500 places (1,875 from Greece, 625 from Italy). The judges conclude that the administrative difficulties that the Spanish government claims "don't free it from its obligations" and "don't justify its omissive conduct".

Translation: El Nacional

July 10: CUP MP Maria Sirvent: "Maintianing a dialogue with the State that is not real only leads to backsliding."

July 10: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena suspends Catalan MPs charged with rebellion, both those in jail and those in exile (with the exception of former health minister Toni Comín). The decision affects Carles Puigdemont and jailed MPs Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Jordi Sànchez and Raül Romeva.

July 10: Citizens to bring case against Catalan speakership panel majority for allowing parliament to vote on reaffirmation of the October 27 declaration of independence.

July 10: Catalan president Torra to announce "road map" for Catalonia in September.

News (El Nacional, July 10)

Spanish foreign minister calls on Belgium to defend Spanish judge

Spanish foreign affairs minister, Josep Borrell, has instructed Spain's ambassador to Belgium, Cecilia Yuste, to ask the Belgium government to appear in the case in that country against Spanish judge Pablo Llarena and to defend the immunity of the Spanish judiciary and the judge summonsed.

Foreign ministry sources have told Europa Press that this follows a request made by the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, Carlos Lesmes.

Lesmes had written to Borrell and the justice minister, Dolores Delgado, asking them to carry out "the relevant actions to ensure the integrity of the state's actions". This follows president Carles Puigdemont and four former ministers now in exile presenting a civil lawsuit in Belgium against Pablo Llarena, the judge in the case against the Catalan independence movement.

Specifically, the judge asked them to, "in accordance with Belgian procedural practice", ask Belgium to appear in the case in its own courts in defence of "the immunity of the Spanish judiciary and the Supreme Court judge summonsed".

The Spanish government will respond to the request with a "note verbale", which is the normal method of communication for ambassadors with the governments of the countries they are accredited in.

For the moment, there is no plan for Borrell to directly discuss the subject with his Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders. Both will be in Brussels tomorrow, however, for a two-day NATO summit.

Translation: El Nacional

July 9: ANC to ask members if they support single pro-independence tickets in next May's municipal elections.

July 9: Torra: "Now we have a government in Spain that recognises that we have a political conflict. We give great value to that recognition."

July 9: Sánchez and Torra agree to revive moribund bilateral commission between Spanish State and Catalonia to discuss outstanding issues. PSOE government also agrees to lift veto on Catalan social laws appealed to Constitutional Court by the PP,while continuing to deny any Catalan right to self-determination.

July 9: Spain's new prosecutor general rules out, for now, asking for any reduction in the charges brought and penalties being sought against Catalan politicians involved in October 1 referendum.

July 9: Fernando Martínez-Maíllo, PP coordinator-general, says nothing good for Spain will come from this morning's meeting between PM Pedro Sánchez and Catalan president Torra.

July 9: GESOP poll published in El Periódico says that, right now, only 21.5% think that Catalonia should "seek independence in order to build a new republic" while 62% believe it should "negotiate an improvement in self-government with the [Spanish] State", with 16.5% undecided (below).

Week ending July 8

Comment (Jordi Barbeta, El Nacional, July 6)

How the rightward drift of Spain's PP will affect Catalonia and the independence movement

The primary elections held this week to elect a new leader for Spain's Popular Party (PP) have turned into a contest to see who can be the most reactionary, the farthest to the right and, especially, who can be the most belligerent towards the Catalan independence movement. And the result has been a draw. [Former deputy prime minister] Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and [former communications secretary] Pablo Casado are both equally barbarous and it doesn't make much difference which of the two finally gets the top job. The Spanish right is a political animal capable of systematically repeating the same strategic mistake. Its inner beast forces it to do so: it radicalizes itself and, next thing, it loses the elections.​

Manuel Fraga Iribarne, the first leader of Spain's right in the post-Franco era, was incapable of winning elections even when its opponent, the UCD of Adolfo Suárez, dissolved. His conservative extremism led to fourteen years of Socialist (PSOE) majorities. José María Aznar finally won for the PP in 1996 not so much on his own merits but because the corruption and the scandal of the dirty war fought against ETA terrorism made it impossible for the Socialists to continue in power. Even so, the PP won by a difference of only 300,000 votes. Aznar saw himself forced to "speak Catalan in private", as he put it at the time - he had to come to an agreement with the largest Catalan party, CiU, led by Pujol, with the Basque Nationalists under Arzalluz, and with the unions too. The fruit of that period, so centrist and centred, was that in 2000 the PP won the next elections with an absolute majority. At that point their 'fighting spirit' raised its head again, and in 2004 they lost to Socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The PSOE did not lose until 2011, and that wasn't due to the merits of the PP either, but rather, the Socialists were defeated by the economic crisis like all incumbent governments of that period. And Mariano Rajoy has now radicalized the right once again and he has not even been able to finish his mandate. So, whether with Soraya SS or Pablo Casado, the PP is not in government and is not expected to be.

From this point of view, the radicalization of the Spanish right is the best news for the Socialists. When the right loses the centre, it is the PSOE which takes advantage of this, and in fact, has always felt more comfortable just administering the status quo without bothering anybody. However, the problem is that the bi-partisan division of Spain between the two largest parties is not what it used to be, and absolute majorities are now unattainable. To keep on governing, the PSOE will need external support and will have to choose between carrying on with a majority based on the current grouping (PSOE, the left-wing Podemos, Basques and Catalans) or allying itself with the other right-wing party, Citizens.

It is hardly necessary to say that Podemos and the Basque Nationalists will move heaven and earth to prevent the access of the neo-Falangist Citizens, led by Albert Rivera, to the Spanish government. It is not so clear, however, what the pro-independence Catalans will do. One thing is to support a no-confidence motion against Mariano Rajoy and another very different proposition is to support a Spanish prime minister who has a priority of preventing the Catalan independence movement from achieving its goals.

These are the million euro questions: Will the Catalan independence parties prefer a PSOE-Citizens government? Will these parties, ERC and PDeCAT, be willing to withdraw if the decisions of the Spanish government do not move forward their vision for Catalonia? Will they be able to involve themselves and yet at the same time maintain their road map towards independence? Yes, against Rajoy, everything was easier, but however you choose to look at it, these are decisions that will determine the future course of the independence process.

Translation: El Nacional

July 8: Catalan president Torra to take law suit against former Spanish Congress speaker and PSOE defence minister José Bono for saying in an interview on the Sexta channel that he, Torra, has "Nazi-like" positions.

July 8: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent denounces situation of Catalan political prisoners before the political commission of the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly in Quebec.

July 8: Ultra-rightists picket meeting dedicated to "the role of local government in the building of the country" of ERC MP Joan Tardà in the Valencian town of Barxeta.

Interview (El Nacional, July 7)

Aamer Anwar: 'Talking to Spain now is like sitting down with a gangster holding hostages'

Aamer Anwar (Liverpool, 1967) took on the defence of Catalan minister Clara Ponsatí against Spain's extradition demand because he wanted to do something to help the Catalans in their cause. Anwar, named as Scotland's 2017 lawyer of the year, came to Catalonia a year ago to take part in a Catalan Summer University conference and, by sheer coincidence, was in Barcelona's Rambla on 17th August at the moment when a van driver perpetrated the terror attack that killed 14 people. He says that he escaped being hurt by a matter of seconds.

Months later he was requested to mount the legal defence of the former Catalan minister and he rapidly accepted. It is clear to him that the fight against the European arrest warrant is not easy because it is a David versus Goliath situation, but he is optimistic and is determined to fight all the way. His objective, apart from ensuring that Ponsatí does not have to return to Spain and face what he considers "a death penalty", is to expose Spain in the eyes of Europe. In the last few days he has been back in Barcelona to take part in the Summer University once again, and it's there that he was interviewed by El Nacional.

How is the extradition process going?
Last Thursday we had a procedural hearing. After three months the crown prosecutor had finally said that he had found an equivalent crime to the Spanish offence of rebellion, which does not exist in either Scottish law, or Belgian or German law, and that equivalent is the crime of treason. After three months, a month before the final hearing starts, we know what she is accused of. We go to court on 30th July and it will last at least a month, possibly even longer. 

A month ago it was announced that you were considering calling Mariano Rajoy or other Spanish ex-ministers to court in Edinburgh. Is this idea still on the table?
We are still considering it. The question is, who would we cite? Just Rajoy, or also the ministers of finance, justice, the head of the police... Who do we not call? Because many of them have made prejudicial statements. But all these people have pronounced the guilt of the Catalan leaders, and we can use these statements in court. It shows they are unlikely to get a fair trial in Spain. In Scotland, the first minister Nicola Sturgeon refuses to comment on Clara Ponsatí's case, because it is the legal system that has to resolve it. But in Spain, everybody has something to say. Moreover, I suspect that if we cite them, they won't come. Believe me, if they come, we will hold them to account, we will say: "What have you done? What have you done in the name of justice?"

How could Germany's decision on the European arrest warrant for Puigdemont affect your case?
We have a separate judiciary so technically speaking it should not have any influence. However, if Puigdemont is not extradited in Germany, we will point to the fact that neither Belgium nor Germany have accepted it. And we will try to use it. But at the end of the day the judicial systems are different and people have to fight judicially, separately. If in the end they did extradite Puigdemont, we would still fight. But clearly it does have an impact. Puigdemont was in custody before in Germany, and we managed to get Clara Ponsatí out on bail.

Are you optimistic? Do you believe you will win the case?
I am always an optimist. We are determined to fight, we do see this as a battle of David versus Goliath. The Spanish state has unlimited resources. We are very conscious of the fact that if we lose the case for Clara, she faces 33 years of prison. and 33 years of prison when you are 61 years old is, effectively, a death sentence. She would probably take her last breath in a prison. That's not acceptable in any democratic, civilized part of the world. So I am very conscious that we have a huge responsibility. We have to make sure that we fight every step of the way. However, I have to say that the Spanish government and authorities keep helping us, because every day they do something new. 

What are you referring to?
Previously Mariano Rajoy's government, now Pedro Sánchez's government, every day they do something which shows that this process is not fair, that this is a political prosecution, they cannot guarantee a fair trial. That if Clara returned to Spain, there would be an abuse of her human rights, there is no due process. And from day one, I have said that Spain stands accused of abusing the European arrest warrant. It was created to deal with serious criminals, to deal with killers, rapists and drug dealers. Instead, they have used it for political pursuit and prosecution across Europe. 

Do you see the government of Sánchez as the same as that of Rajoy? 
I've now become a student of Catalan politics and I have realised that the socialist party is the same side of the coin as Rajoy's party. One lot are conservatives and the others socialists but when it comes to Catalonia, they are the same. Pedro Sánchez says that he is a democrat and that there can only be a political solution, not a judicial solution. That's the only thing on which I agree with Pedro Sánchez. He's right, there can only be a political solution to this, not a judicial solution.

Can a political solution be found when there are prisoners and exiles?
At the end of the day if I win the case for Clara Ponsatí, she remains in political exile... She is 61 years old, her mother is 91 years old and lives in Barcelona and she has a son that also lives there. She wants to come home, she wants to walk her streets again, to see her friends and her family. She does not want to remain a political exile for the rest of her life. It's a disgrace, a shame and an insult to democracy, to Spain being a democracy, that there should be the term 'political exile', or 'political prisoner' - as a matter of fact, people use the term 'political prisoners', I use the term 'political hostages'.

Why?
If a gangster came into my house and beat me up, took my TV, my jewellery, my watches, and took my children as hostages and put a gun to their heads and then time went by, and he still had a gun to my children's heads and then he said to me "let's sit down at a table, have a cup of tea, let's discuss business, let's negotiate when I will leave your house”, then I would say that's not negotiation. That's blackmail, terrorism, fascism. It's an identical situation - as long as there are political hostages. It's not democracy, not justice, it's an abuse of the process. Until they release the political hostages and drop the arrest warrants, without conditions, then there can be negotiations. When Puigdemont or Ponsatí can come back home, a true discussion can take place, they will then be equal partners. Otherwise it looks like a gangster with a gun, holding your children hostage.

To negotiate, is it necessary that the prisoners are freed, then?
Yesterday I was in Manresa and a few miles aways was the prison the political prisoners have just been moved to, and I was confused because I said, "well,  they're not in Spain now, they're in Catalonia”. So now it looks to me as if the Spanish government might say “oh, we have no political prisoners, it's Catalonia!" But it comes back to Sánchez and he has to be told "you make the choice, you're the democrat, if you are different from Rajoy, if you want peace and justice and to restore the name of Spain in the international community, then release the prisoners, you have the keys, open the doors, let them come home".

Do you believe that Sánchez will change this situation?
I am an optimist, but also a cynic. I am cynical about the record of the Socialists in their treatment of the Catalans. For example, the Socialists just a few weeks ago proposed modifying the offence of rebellion to make it applicable without violence being involved. This strikes me as a doubles standard and hypocrisy. Clara Ponsatí and Carles Puigdemont peacefully promoted a referendum and face 33 years of prison. The 'wolf pack', La Manada, raped a woman - they were found not guilty of violence, but of sexual abuse - and they have been released on bail after being sentenced to 9 years of prison. And you have to ask, what is more serious? Do you consider that this violence against a woman is not serious? This seems to me to show double standards.

And how can it change?
In terms of hope, all this gives an opportunity for the Spanish Government to say we need to change the way we act if we want to be recognized as a democracy adhering to the rule of the law. The opportunity is there. They don't need to wait to see what Germany, Belgium or Scotland say. It's already exposed. Everybody asks the question: “What, how can they say she carried out rebellion, with violence?" There is no evidence that Clara Ponsatí has incited or instigated violence at any polling station. In 52 pages of the warrant, not one scrap of evidence. The only violence that we saw was the violence by the police.

However, she is accused of rebellion, which implies violence...
Clara is an esteemed academic, a professor, she has devoted her whole life to academia and then she did her duty and went back and became Catalan minister of education. How is that a criminal offence? It is time that the Spanish government understood that if you talk about a political solution instead of a judicial one, then under international law it's not a criminal offence for people to express their willl to self-determination. If you want to be recognized internationally as a democracy you have to accept the international treaties and this is a right accepted around the world. You can't make it a criminal offence because it suits you. The ball is now in the court of Sánchez. If he is a socialist - and I am a socialist - you can't have political prisoners, you can't deny people their right to vote. 

The argument is that in Spain the law does not allow it.
How can it be that voting is breaking the law? In Scotland we have the right to vote. If Spain has confidence in its union, in its unity, then let the Catalan people decide. They're not children, this is not a colony. If they believe that Spain is united, then let Catalonia decide. And if they're right? I'm not happy that we, Scottish independence, lost the referendum, but I am happy that we had the chance to vote. And probably one day we will have the opportunity to vote again. Because that's the right in a democracy.

Is voting for the independence of a country a right?
In a democracy there is nothing illegal about voting. What is wrong with people in Catalonia voting? What are they scared of? Are the Spanish authorities scared of losing? If you allow Catalonia to have its own Parliament then you have to recognize, that at this point in time the majority in parliament is pro-independence and that the people gave the majority to these parties to carry out an independence referendum. They didn't ban the independence parties, they didn't say they were illegal, they didn't ban voting for the pro-independence parties. They had a mandate to hold the referendum. You gave Catalonia its Parliament, now let Catalonia decide.

The pro-independence has a majority in seats but not in votes.
The independence parties have a majority in Parliament. They have it now and they had it before. In spite of everything that Rajoy did, the independence parties won again. The Catalan president is pro-independence and Parliament is too. They let them stand in the elections. If this was illegal, why didn't they ban them? Did they think that they would win? They lost. That's democracy, sometimes you win and sometimes not. In Scotland we lost and we accepted it. Next time we will try harder. Spain should say: "We lost, so let the people decide".

Why do you think that Spain has behaved like this?
It's almost as if General Franco is sitting in his grave dictating to the Spanish politicians, the police, the military, the authorities and the legal system - this is what you do. Franco did not just die and then people said, look we have democracy. He created a structure to make sure that his legacy would continue not for 10 years, but for 30, 40 or even 100 years. That legacy hasn't been resolved, because in any another country in the world, when democracy arrives and the dictatorship finishes, one of the first things that you do is prosecute the dictator, the torturers and the executioners. Reconciliation only comes through exposure of the torturers and what they did wrong. And you tear up what they did. The dictator does not have the right to set up the constitution or to say we will set up a political party and they will then carry it on. That seems to me to be the problem at the heart of Spain, that everything flows from what Franco left behind. You can say the name of democracy, but everything flows from Franco.

And how could that have affected Catalonia?
This means that when something like this happens, they call it the Catalan crisis, then automatically the state acts almost as Franco would have acted. When you send three ships full of riot police into Barcelona - it is as if the new Spanish armada has come. What message are you giving to the Catalan people? You send thousands of police officers, they sing Franco songs, it's like an occupation. It's as if a military force came to say, listen to us because if you don't do what we want, we'll use force, violence. If you don't listen to us, then we'll lock up your politicians afterwards and we'll "decaptitate” your parties. That is the language of violence and aggression.

What do you think of the silence of the European Union?
Silence, when you see an injustice or an abuse of human rights, is not an option. It is deeply shameful. They should remember why the EU came into being. It arose out of the 1940s. What happened to the Jews, to the homosexuals... The cry that rose up was 'never again'. Now, once more on the streets Europe you see shadows of fascism, you see violence being used... You can't just speak up about this when it happens in other countries and remain silent when it happens here. The job of politicians is to be politicians. Silence means complicity.

Next week there is a meeting between Catalan president Quim Torra and Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon. What do you expect from that?
In the meeting with Sturgeon, Clara's case will not be argued. Our first minister cannot interfere in a legal process. That's something for the judges. We have an independent judicial system and to interfere would be wrong. We have to trust our judges and their independence, that's an important signal and an important message to give.

However, the Scottish National Party has spoken up for the Catalan referendum and called for the liberation of the prisoners.
Yes, and I am proud of Sturgeon and our government. The last congress of the SNP voted unanimously to support Clara's defence and the Catalan struggle. Sturgeon is the leader who has spoken out most in support of the Catalans. People ask me if I believe it's possible for Catalonia to become independent. I don't think it's if, it's when. The question is when Catalonia will be independent. Before it was if, now I think it's when. The same applies to Scotland.

Could you imagine that in Scotland a referendum could turn out like that in Catalonia? With violence and prisoners?
If tomorrow Sturgeon called another referendum and Theresa May said they couldn't do it, and the Scottish first minister said she was going to go ahead anyway because she had a mandate, and then if Theresa May sent 15,000 uniformed policemen and locked up half the cabinet and the other half left and went to, say, Barcelona, Belgium and Germany... then people would be outraged and would say that this was not democracy, you can't do this. I don't believe that they would do it. It's unbelievable that it would happen. That's why we believe in our democracy and the rule of law. Because these things only happen in a dictatorship. When the past is not resolved. I don't believe that in Scotland, Wales or England this could happen - but if it did happen we would be independent the very next day. There would be 99% support for independence. Scots would say: "Don't tell us what to think, you can't use violence".

And how is your independence process going?
The people in Scotland are now saying "Don't treat us like children’. They promised us that if we stayed, we would remain in the European Union and that is not the situation. In a year or more, there will be another referendum and this time we will win. If we win, it will be an inspiration for the Catalans, the same as the Catalans have been one for us. We learn lessons from one another.

Transcription: El Nacional

July 7: Annual Canet Rock festival dedicated to Catalan political prisoners (below).

July 7: Ultra-right party Vox accuses the Tarragona Committee for the Defence of the Republic (CDR) of "beseiging" its summer school. Vox spokesperson Isabel Lázaro: "We shall continue the ideological struggle against coup-fomenting totalitarianism."

News (Laia Forès, Ara, July 6)

Valtonyc: “I trust Belgium’s justice system. I hope it will find I just wrote some songs”

Belgium’s examining magistrate grants parole to Valtonyc, the Majorcan rap singer who fled Spain after receiving a prison sentence for his song lyrics

On Thursday the rap singer appeared before the Belgian examining magistrate who had summoned him following a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, a major crimes special court. The singer was released on parole while Belgium’s justice decides whether to grant his extradition to Spain, as requested by Spain six months ago.

After appearing in court, the rap singer allowed himself to be seen in public for the first time since his move to Belgium. At a press conference Valtonyc explained why he left Majorca and gave details of his new life in Ghent, the city in Flanders where he resides nowadays.

Josep Miquel Arenas (Valtonyc’s real name) stated that he “wasn’t hiding at all” but cooperated with Belgium’s justice as soon as he arrived in the country. He also stressed that he expects Belgium will dismiss the European Arrest Warrant issued against him. “In the case of the Catalan exiles, Belgium’s justice system has shown that it is fair and independent, on the side of rationality. I hope that [the Belgian judges] will understand that I just wrote some songs, that’s all. Just songs”, he said. “I have every faith in Belgium and Europe’s justice”, he emphasised.

A job as a web designer

Valtonyc explained that he is living in Ghent and doing IT and web design work, which he had studied for back in Majorca, and living a normal life: “By day three I’d got a job, a home and a mobile phone”. He also pointed out that people have been very kind to him and Belgians are surprised to hear that he was given a prison sentence over some song lyrics. “The lads here freak out when they hear that I’m a fugitive”.

During the press conference, the rap singer denounced “the erosion of democracy” in Spain. He decried that “in Spain there are people in jail for holding a referendum, which proves that mine is not an isolated case, an attack just on Valtonyc. We are not allowed to sing, we are not allowed to tweet nor vote as a people”. And he added that his crime is “to be left-wing, a communist and an independence supporter. Clearly none of that is legal in Spain”, he added.

Precautionary measures

After appearing in court, the artist was not remanded in custody but released on parole and he is free to travel about in Belgium while another judge determines whether to grant his extradition to Spain. Nevertheless, the court did order a number of precautionary measures, such as the prohibition to leave the country and the obligation to report any change of address.

The news was first posted on Twitter by lawyer Simon Bekaert, the son of Valtonyc’s attorney Paul Bekaert, who provided Carles Puigdemont with legal counsel when a European Arrest Warrant was issued against the Catalan president.

Translation: Ara

July 6: The joint president of the German Die Linke (The Left), Bernd Riexinger, condemns the situation of the Catalan jailed and exiled prisoners, adding that "at the very least, Catalonia should have more autonomy."

July 6: Catalan president Quim Torra visits women political prisoners Carme Forcadell and Dolors Bassas in Figueras jail.

July 6: (Vilaweb)

New Spanish government to take pro-independence initiative to court for first time

Catalan Parliament passed a motion confirming commitment towards Catalan state on Thursday

The Spanish government is to take a parliamentary pro-independence initiative to court for the first time since reaching power. The executive spokeswoman, Isabel Celaá, announced the move on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting. This, not even a day after the Catalan Parliament passed a motion confirming its commitment towards a Catalan state.Just before Madrid announced that it will challenge the motion, the Catalan executive had said that should they take it to courts, the new Spanish government will not be “much different” from the previous one. The Socialists ousted the People’s Party from power last month after a vote of no confidence.

The reasons Celaá mentioned for challenging the motion include “defending the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy.” Yet she believes this will not affect the meeting between Catalonia and Spain’s presidents, set for next Monday July 9. For her, the appeal announced to the Constitutional Court has a “juridical path,” while “the political one follows another path.”

The Catalan Socialist leader has also spoken about the upcoming presidents meeting. Miquel Iceta said that on Monday “there will be no agreement for a self-determination referendum.”

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, announced last week that he would lay such vote on the table, but Sánchez has already rejected it.

According to Iceta, if Torra focuses the meeting on self-determination, it will be difficult that an agreement is reached during the presidents’ meeting.

Yet he said it’s “good news” that the Catalan president has suggested holding another meeting in September with Pedro Sánchez, but this time in Barcelona.

July 6: ANC and Òmnium Cultural announce that this year's Diada demonstration, on Catalan National Day, September 11, will seek to occupy Barcelona's longest thoroughfare, the Diagonal.

July 6: President Torra meets with United Left coordinator Alberto Garzón. Garzón condemns the imprisonment of the Catalan politicians, says he shares republican and democratic values with Torra and that Catalonia would, if given the chance, vote to live in a federal, republican Spain.

July 6: ANC and Òmnium Cultural announce September 11 (Catalan National Day) theme ("Let's Build the Catalan Republic") and place (along Barcelona's Diagonal).

Interview (Martí Estruch Axmacher, Vilaweb, July 5)

Cathal MacSwiney Brugha: ‘Jailing Catalan pro-independence leaders is a stupid move by Madrid, a sign that they are losing’

Irish Professor proposes a “Europe Cares” about Catalonia campaign

Cathal MacSwiney Brugha is Emeritus and Adjunct Professor at the College of Business in the University College Dublin. He is also the President of the Analytics Society of Ireland. Through both his grandfathers he is closely linked to the history of Ireland. His paternal grandfather, Cathal Brugha, was the first chairman of the Irish parliament after having played a very important role in the Easter Rising. His maternal grandfather, Terence MacSwiney, was the mayor of Cork during the war of independence and was detained after having asked the British to return to their country. He started a hunger strike that became a big challenge to the British authorities. It took him to death with great international repercussions, and finally the British government agreed to sit at the negotiating table.

– What brings you to Catalonia this time?

– I see Catalonia as having won the argument, but now needs help to achieve its aims for self-determination.  I believe that can come from the people of Europe. I don’t expect it from the highest levels, the council of prime ministers, because they don’t see below their level in other countries. I see Europe as a family of families. If a big brother is bullying a little sister in the school playground, the cousins can come to her aid. We in Ireland are your cousins.  Add to that, we in Ireland like and admire the people of Catalonia very much.  So here we are. We want to promote the case that “Europe Cares”. We are not alone. Mikko Kärnä, the Finnish MP, also cares and supports you. So, we could look at spreading the campaign “Europe Cares” throughout Europe.

– What parallels can we find between the current situation in Catalonia and the Irish elections of December 1918?
– The parallels are significant and important. The Irish elections of December 1918 were a turning-point. No more could London claim that the Irish people endorsed British policy in Ireland. It exposed Britain as in Ireland for selfish reasons, in 1918 using young Irish men in a colonising war of competition between Britain and Germany. The support of the people of Catalonia for parties that promote Catalan self-determination gives great hope that change will not be postponed for long.

– Your grandfather Terence MacSwiney, Mayor of Cork, was held in prison for defending Irish independence and died after a hunger strike. Would you defend extreme measures of civil disobedience also today?
– In the years before MacSwiney’s hunger-strike many suffragette women in England used the hunger-strike to seek women’s rights.  Little was known about these brave ladies because the right-wing controlled the media. Force-feeding was used on them with great brutality. MacSwiney and his colleagues around the world used the international media to campaign for his case, and for Irish independence. This, and the fact that he was Mayor of Ireland’s second city, Cork, and that he was an elected member of the Dáil, our Parliament, meant that Britain was on the back foot, and afraid to force-feed him or treat him with brutality. MacSwiney won the publicity battle even in England. Their King George V supported the case to release MacSwiney.

– Could such measures help the independence movement in Catalonia then?
– Extreme measures of civil disobedience can be counter-productive. It can give Madrid the excuse to use more brutality.  Catalonia has now achieved the moral high ground. Madrid is looked upon as an uncivilised bully. You should pick your ground well. You should make sure that Madrid continues to be seen as uncivilised, and Catalonia as a proud, strong, mature, civilised people. MacSwiney’s most famous and influential quotation is: “It is not they who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most, who will conquer”.

– What do you feel when a century later some Catalan independence leaders are in prison or in exile?
– Jailing Catalan pro-independence leaders is a stupid move by Madrid, a sign that they are losing. It is very visible across Europe, and has alienated all decent people. People like Terence MacSwiney spent more time in prison than out of it.

– Are there any red lines that a modern democracy must respect or is territorial integrity a supreme value?
– The struggle is always about Power versus People, Rule versus Care, Place versus the People that live there.  The world is maturing, moving towards an era where the concerns of people will be much more dominant.  “Territorial integrity” will always have a value.  But the idea that it should have a “supreme value” will no longer hold, if that is used to justify doing wrong to people.

– What is the importance of solidarity in these situations?
– When there is bad behaviour, whether it is children in a playground, or countries acting like children, the sensible, mature, constructive, good ones must work together for peace and harmony. Solidarity is key. Bullies are always cowards. They only fight unequal battles. Solidarity always wins out against bullies.

– Would you expect the EU or its bigger states to seriously ask or even force the Spanish government to enter dialogue and negotiation with Catalonia?
– I expect it. I would like to see this happen. Unfortunately, the people who tend to enter politics in normal circumstances are the wrong people, the most unsuited to being in government. These are people who like to rule and tend not to care. Generally leaders at the highest level in politics in Europe will be the last people to help resolve your dispute with Spain. They see themselves at meetings with the Spanish Prime Minister, and will sympathise with his ‘internal difficulties’, may even see parallels with their own ‘internal difficulties’.

– The power of states has no limits?
– Ultimately a mature Europe will move to governance on four levels, European Union, States, Regions, and Local. The emergence of Regional Governance will mean that States will lose power.  We cannot expect States to release power. We need to appeal to people across the European Regions to support this move. They will respond. History is about bizarre accidents in conflict between powers. If history was different Catalonia would be a State. We cannot go back in history. States are losing importance. Regions are growing in importance. Catalonia is leading Europe in moving towards a mature society where people run their own affairs. The days of States dictating to regions are ending. Throughout the world, excessive State power is associated with stupid decisions and financial corruption.

– Can Catalonia learn some lesson from the Irish experience or are times and circumstances too different?
– Yes, Catalonia can learn from the Irish experience. Generally the people who write the history, and explain what is happening, come from the Right Wing. The story gets distorted, and the lessons are lost for other people. The Irish leaders were very spiritual, caring, intelligent people. The British leaders, that the Irish were up against, were power-hungry, intolerant, selfish bullies, in their political lives, and often in their personal lives, and many of them financially corrupt. I won’t name them here. But they are praised by the history of their own countries, because for short periods they served their states well. I don’t see the times and circumstances you face as very different. Catalonia has to keep focused, keep cool, act wisely, and not get pushed into the wrong kind of conflict that would push it off the high ground. Catalonia has not made mistakes. Catalonia has kept the support of its people. Catalonia is reasonable. The issue is how to get to the next step…

– If people stay united and resist Spanish repression, do you think we will see an independent Catalan Republic? What else does it need?
– The mistake is to think in terms of Europe as a collection of independent republics.  In the past, States had 100% of the power.  In the future, the European Union will have 25%, States 25%, Regions 25%, and Local 25%. The day of the Independent Republic is gone.  Madrid’s problem is that they don’t see this. Catalonia’s problem is that Madrid blames you for causing them to lose the feeling of power, power that was already gone. Even in a hundred years’ time the remnants of the right wing in Madrid will still blame Catalonia.  But most people, in Spain and in Europe, will thank you. The biggest challenge will be to keep your people united as you head towards a new situation.  You are moving fast in the right direction, but on a road that has yet to be built. You are building that road.

– Spain is not really interested in its construction…
– When we in Ireland were doing this a century ago Britain was the most powerful empire ever on planet Earth. The actions of a few people such as Terence MacSwiney made a small hole in the sail of the Great Ship Britannia. It is still losing power, and yet still holds onto its nonsense of greatness, and is now damaging its own future with Brexit. And it is still doing damage to Ireland. Brexit will ruin Northern Ireland. Brexit politicians don’t care about three regions, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England, only about London having power. It is difficult for Catalonia.  But you must keep cool, keep intelligent. The key to the future is not Rule, but Care. Not Rule of Institutions, but Care of People.

– Thank you for your time. Any final message you want to send?
– The reason I am here is because I believe that Europe Cares about Catalonia.  Not necessarily the politicians at the highest level of European Union, or the States, but the people of Europe. Through Vilaweb, and through your friends throughout Europe, through Social Media, through young people especially, you can build this new road. Europe will thank you. Madrid may be sore for a long time. In the long run the people of Spain will be grateful to Catalonia.  I don’t need to explain why that will be, to your readers.

Transcription: Vilaweb, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

July 5: Catalan attorney-General Ester Capella expresses support for the families of the Altsasu youth, condemned by the Spanish National High Court for aggression against Civil Guards.

July 5: Despite the warnings of the Catalan parliament's legal service the pro-independence majority reasserts its sovereignty and the social program it adopted in 2015 and 2016, later suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

July 5: JxCat and the ERC vote in favour of PSC motions proposing a "dialogure space" on all issues affecting Catalonia. PP attacks the PSC for wanting to find points of agreement with pro-independence forces.

July 5: The right to self-determination will be at the centre of the July 9 discussion between Torra and Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, says Torra.

July 4: President Quim Torra addresses demonstrators outside Lledoners prison after visiting Catalan men political prisoners (below).

July 4: Catalan parliament creates a commission to investigate the impact of the application of the Rajoy government's article 155 suspension of Catalan self-rule.

July 4: Six Catalan political prisoners (former speaker Carme Forcadell, former social welfare minister Dolors Bassa, former vice-president Oriol Junqueras, former foreign minister Raül Romeva, former ANC president and JxCat MP Jordi Sànchez and Òmnium Cultual president Jordi Cuixart) arrive in Catalan jails. They are visited by president Quim Torra, speaker Roger Torrent and various ministers and demonstrations organised by the ANC and Òmnium Cultural (below, with lead banner "We Shall Struggle Until You Are Free").

July 4:  Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau on Catalonia Radio: "We [Catalonia Together] are very clear that the state of autonomous regions [set up under the 1978 Spanish Constitution] is exhausted, and we have always defended a binding referendum even though we know that this is very difficult. We know that things get solved through dialogue. We have a serious institutional problem with the [Spanish] State, but a no lesser problem has been created in Catalonia, where there has been a very great polarisation, and it's the responsibility of all forces to recover broad-based consensuses. It's not the fastest nor the most epic path, but it's the only possible path."

Comment (Editorial, Ara, July 4)

Transfer and freedom

It bears repeating: nothing will go back to normal until there are no political prisoners left

The transfer of the political prisoners, which is underway and at the moment involves six of the nine pro-independence prisoners —Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Carme Forcadell, Dolors Bassa, Jordi Sànchez, and Jordi Cuixart—, cannot be a bargaining chip. It is the bare minimum that can be hoped for from a Spanish government that says it wants to work to open up a new stage of dialogue. A dialogue that —this must be made clear up from the start— will not be truly effective until all of the political prisoners have been released. Until then it will not be possible to normalize anything. For one simple reason: there will be two million Catalan citizens that will feel that their rights, their votes, and their freedom have been attacked. We cannot forget the starting point of judicialization as a response to a problem of a political nature: pre-trial prison is abusive, as are the accusations of rebellion and sedition based on non-existent, concocted violence. The only violence that existed was by the Spanish police forces against peaceful citizens during the October 1st referendum. Neither the voters on that day nor the demonstrators at the September 20th protest outside the HQ of the Catalan Finance Ministry were violent at any time. This has been proven by the Mediapro documentary, which featured images and voices against the narrative presented by a justice system that has acted in a shockingly partisan way, in service to a State belief that the unity of Spain is an unchallengeable value.

That said, it is obvious that the transfer of the prisoners allows a certain detente, and especially a much-needed, humanitarian relief for the families. As a decision made by the Spanish ministry, bringing the prisoners closer to home undoubtedly represents a gesture of political intention. But it is not, nor can it carry with it any pretension of being a political solution: Pedro Sánchez’s government cannot expect a pat on the back from the pro-sovereignty camp. The underlying ignominy is too serious. The indignation too deep. Instead, it will probably be met by an avalanche of criticism from the Spanish political caste and media. It is in response to this most radical Spanish nationalism that the Moncloa must be brave. It is here where the political game must be played, where the decision must be defended on humanitarian, political, and justice-based grounds.

It is clear that, being closer to home, the Catalan political prisoners will be a little less vulnerable. Being far from home, in a hostile environment, in a deliberate state of social isolation, was part of the punitive abuse to which they have been subjected during the past several months. In Catalan prisons they will undoubtedly continue to be political prisoners —absurdly, or worse, vindictively— behind bars. But not only for their families, as we have said, but also for them and for all of those who are calling for their imperative release, this transfer represents a small victory that, nevertheless, we will not celebrate. Sánchez has made the first move, but there is still a long way to go.

Translation: Ara

July 3: PP and Citizens repeat their opposition to transfer of Catalan prisoners to Catalan jails.

July 3: Inés Arrimades (Citizens) calls for immediate suspension of Catalan MPs facing charges.

July 3: Barcelona Council July 2018 Municipal Barometer: "Barcelona Together Would Repeat Election Win"

July 3: Transfer of Catalan political prisoners to Catalan jails begins.

BBC documentary Crisis in Catalonia

Broken video link.

July 2: Sánchez: "There are no deals with the pro-independence parties. We are simply carrying out regulations covering prisoners."

July 2: Inés Arrimades (Citizens' leader in Catalan parliament): "New payment from Sánchez to the separatists in exchange for putting him in the Moncloa [PM's residence] without facing an election. Incredible that the penitentiary supervision of those charged with rebellion is now in the hands of people who continue to threaten to break the law and carry out another coup."  [In Catalonia the prison system is run by the Catalan government, not the Spanish state.]

July 2: Pablo Iglesias on Catalan prisoners: "They should never have been in jail in the first place."

July 2: PDECat supports ANC proposal for "republican candidates" for May 2019 local government elections.

July 2: Catalan government delegate in Brussels, former agriculture minister Meritxell Serret, to ask for meetings with all leading EU representatives.

July 2: President-in-exile Puigdemont demands the resources that are due to him as an ex-president (office with three employees, office rent, official car with chauffeur and security detatchment).

July 2: Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, competing for the leadership of the PP, criticises the transfer of Catalan political prisoners to Catalan jails as a "payment to the independentists".

Week ending July 1 

July 1: ANC proposes to organise primaries of republican forces for the May 2019 municipal elections.

July 1: ERC national conference approves political resolution by 511 to 5, with 19 abstentions.

July 1: Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell: "We will confront the untruths of the [independence] process."

The "Sardana [traditional Catalan dance] for Freedom" surrounds Lake Banyoles (Pla d'Estany), involving 12,000

June 30: PDECat coordinator Mascal replies to Junqueras: "October 1 is everyone's heritage."

June 30: In a letter to the ERC conference jailed leader Oriol Junqueras says that "we carried all the burden of making sure October 1 happened."

June 30: Marta Vilalta (ERC spokeperson): "When the time is ripe we shall return to disobedience."

June 30: ERC national conference begins in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

News (Vilaweb, June 26)

Catalan president and Barcelona mayor reaffirm offer to take in refugees

Torra says Catalonia can shelter “at least 1800” stranded migrants, with Spain warning about becoming “Europe’s rescue organisation”

Barcelona and Catalonia authorities have repeated their offer to welcome stranded refugees. The heads of both executives restated their willingness to take in migrants on Sunday, with the Catalan NGO ProActiva Open Arms reporting news of another seven boats stranded in the Mediterranean with around 1000 refugees on board.

Catalan president Quim Torra said the country is ready to take in “at least 1,800 refugees”. “We open our doors to face this humanitarian drama, and we ask Europe not to look away” he added on social media. Meanwhile, Barcelona mayor Ada Colau offered Barcelona as a “safe harbor” for the stranded ships.

However, the Spanish infrastructure minister, José Luis Ábalos, responded to Colau on Monday, warning that Spain cannot become “Europe’s maritime rescue organisation.” The minister said that Spain “cannot take on this responsibility alone” as these situations will be “very often” repeated in the near future.

Earlier this month, the new Spanish executive decided to accept the stranded ship Aquarius with 629 refugees, after Italy had turned it away. Yet in a radio interview, Ábalos justified that move as a “humanitarian urgency.” Barcelona and Catalonia offered to take them in, but Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet in the end decided to offer the port of Valencia.

The minister also stressed that it is a matter for the whole of the EU to sort out. On Thursday and Friday, a European summit of the leaders of all EU member states but the UK will tackle the issue. Sixteen of those leaders met in a preliminary summit on Sunday, but without reaching any agreement.

On Sunday, the Catalan NGO Open Arms reported that there were seven ships with around 1,000 refugees overall stranded in the Mediterranean and, what’s more, without life jackets. According to the organization, the Italian coastguard rejected the NGO’s offer to help rescue the migrants. “We don’t need your help” was how the Italian authorities responded to the offer, according to the NGO’s head, Òscar Camps. This, despite an Open Arms ship being  only 65 miles away from the stranded boats. Mayor Colau said that “Italy intends to leave them in the hands of Libya, where people are tortured, raped and enslaved.”

Translation: Vilaweb

June 29: ANC and Òmnium Cultural ask for donations to their fighting fund to help meet €2.1 million in bail imposed on 14 Catalan leaders facing charges.

June 29: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena imposes on the 14 members of the previous Catalan government facing charges a collective bail of €2.1 million.

June 29: Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó says that the suspension of Catalan MPs being prepared by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena will violate their constational rights as elected representatives.

June 29: Campaign for PP general secretary to replace Mariano Rajoy turning into a contest over who can be harsher on Catalan pro-independence forces. Dolores de Cospedal (interviewed by OK Diario): "If the separatist parties pursue illegal goals and use illegal means they should be banned."

News (Alex Gutiérrez, Ara, June 28)

September 20: the cause against the Jordis falls apart thanks to the people’s cameras

A documentary proves the conciliatory role played by the two Catalan grassroots leaders

“We’re on friendly terms now and talking to each other”. Those were the words of ANC leader Jordi Sànchez speaking about Spain’s Guardia Civil in the late afternoon of September 20, 2017. It has been a testing day, with the search of the HQ of Catalonia’s Finance Ministry sometimes looking like a pretext to bait the demonstrators outside into starting a riot that would justify taking the crackdown up a notch. The Spanish authorities are edgy because the referendum on independence [which a Spanish court of law has ruled illegal] is just around the corner (October 1) and if they fail to avert it, it will be humiliating. Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart [the leaders of pro-independence grassroots groups Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural] have been busy all morning trying to mediate between the Spanish authorities and the thousands of protestors gathered on Rambla de Catalunya, outside the Catalan ministry’s HQ. However, the Guardia Civil have sabotaged every mediating effort they have made so far. “We’ve been lured into a goddamned trap!” Jordi Sànchez had complained hours earlier, hinting that the police operation underway had a hidden agenda. But the atmosphere is becoming less strained now and Sànchez even claims —presumably speaking metaphorically— that they might go off and have a cold one together. That was 279 days ago. Since then Sànchez has spent 253 nights in a prison cell in Soto del Real [near Madrid], together with Òmnium president Jordi Cuixart.

These are some of the scenes featured in 20-S, a Mediapro documentary that TV3 [the Catalan public broadcaster] will show on Thursday evening after the 9 o’clock news. A preview is scheduled this evening in Barcelona’s Aribau cinema. Written by Lluís Arcarazo and directed by Jaume Roures, the documentary provides a front row view of the events of September 20. That day Mediapro had sent out a camera crew to document everything that was going on at all times and, furthermore, they have since collected every bit of footage that the people who were rallying in the street have made available to them. There is no narrator: it is the pictures that tell the story of the day, including the half a dozen times when the two Jordis called on the protestors to remain calm and explicitly rejected any violence. This openly contradicts the cause led by judge Pablo Llarena that has landed both Jordis in prison.

Speaking for Público and ARA, Lluís Alcarazo explained that “the widespread use of cameras has allowed information to be democratised and the footage clearly shows that at no point were they aware of leading a rebellion of any sort”. Indeed, the footage shows that the Guardia Civil vehicles which the Jordis climbed on top of that evening —specifically, to call off the protest— had been used as an elevated platform of sorts by reporters and demonstrators alike. That was the footage —plus the odd minor incident later on— which Spain’s TV networks kept looping all the time.

The notion that a narrative has been construed is also apparent from the voice recordings of Catalan police boss Josep Lluís Trapero’s deposition before the Audiencia Nacional judge in Madrid, also featured in the documentary. The Catalan police chief can be heard stating that two Guardia Civil officers stayed by the front door of the ministry’s office at all times, which the prosecutor questions sarcastically, given the size of the crowd that had gathered outside the main entrance. However, the video recordings clearly show that, indeed, two Guardia Civil officers stood guard by the door at the very end of the corridor which the ANC and Òmnium leaders had managed to open up through the crowd in order to allow access into the building and out of it. Alcarazo admits that “we could have made a big deal of the tone of the questions posed to Trapero in court, which were uttered as if he was already on trial”.

The documentary also focuses on the “visit” paid to the CUP’s HQ by Spain’s Policía Nacional. It was a rather odd move when the Spanish police attempted to enter the headquarters [of the anti-capitalist pro-independence left party] without a warrant. When the CUP leaders asked them to produce one —and the police failed to do so—, two police units were staged for hours on end blocking the streets adjacent to the CUP’s building. This was a rather peculiar setup that left no escape route. Once again, according to eyewitness accounts featured on the documentary, it lends credence to the idea that it was a bait operation that sought to elicit a violent response which would have justified the extensive use of force. However, the alleged provocation was met with a peaceful resistance response by the CUP leadership in an atmosphere that you could even describe as festive. The pictures of Anna Gabriel, Eulàlia Reguant, Mireia Boya and Mireia Vehí dancing in the street was in stark contrast with the hostility displayed by the Spanish police officers in their navy blue uniforms.

The same applies to the now-famous firearms which were left unattended inside one of the Guardia Civil vehicles. First of all, there is no possible explanation for such gross negligence by the Spanish law enforcement officers. Once again, this fuels the notion that they sought to instigate a violent incident. Secondly, the documentary includes footage taken from a Catalan police helicopter which proves that, once it transpired that there were weapons inside the vehicle, they were watched at all times, with plainclothes Catalan police officers standing by, in case they were needed.

Alcarazo explains that “some of the pictures show tension, but we have found no footage of anyone throwing as much as a piece of wood. I was there myself and the only thing people chucked were carnations”. In fact, Jordi Sànchez can be seen holding a red carnation for a good portion of the day: it is a splotch of bright red that contrasts vividly with the pervasive grey of the state’s machinery whose cogs began to turn at full speed on that September 20.

Translation: Ara

June 28: Caldes de Malavella (Selva) inaugurates First of October 2017 Square to coincide with presence of Spanish royalty in Girona province.

June 28: Interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska says transfer of Catalan political prisoners to Catalan jails will be finalised in a number of days.

June 28: PP demands that European institutions not receive Meritxell Serret, new head of the Catalan delegation to the EU and exiled former agriculture minister.

June 28: Demonstrations for and against King Felipe outside an act of the Princess of Girona Foundation.

June 28: Carmen Calvo, the vice-president of the Spanish government, gives support to Spain's ambassador to the US and criticises the walk-out of the Catalan delegation, led by president Quim Torra.

June 28: Catalan foreign minister Ernest Maragall: "It's a disgrace that Catalan cannot be used in the European institutions."

June 28: Jaume Asens (fourth deputy mayor of Barcelona): "We would be deceiving ourselves if he expected too much from the Sánchez government."

June 28: President Torra asks if speech of ambassador Morenés, delivered from a written text, has support of Spanish government and foreign minister Borrell.

Catalan delegation at Smithsonian Folklife Festival walks out on hearing comments of Spanish ambassador to the US, Pedro Morenés, against president Quim Torra.

June 27: Citizens demands the immediate suspension of the MPs facing charges by Supreme Court judge Llarena, which would mean the loss of a pro-independence majority.

June 27: Torra, in the US for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (with Catalonia as a feature) denounces pressure from the Spanish embassy not to talk about the political situation between Catalonia and the Spanish state.

June 27: María José Segarra, the new PSOE-appointed prosecutor-general, says that there are no political prisoners in Spain.

June 27: Catalan president Quim Torra says he will raise issue of Scottish-style referendum with Pedro Sánchez at their July 9 meeting.

June 27: The appeals division of the Supreme Court rejects the appeal of Carles Puigdemont and the other Catalan leaders against their being charged by judge Pablo Llarena with rebellion, sedition and misapproriation of public moneys. This decision opens the way to their being suspended from the Catalan parliament under a section of the Spanish legal code designed to prevent "rebels" from being MPs.

June 27: PP spokesperson Rafael Hernando accuses Pablo Iglesias of "meeting up with fascists" because of his jail visit to Jordi Cuixart.

June 27: Iglesias on Òmnium Cultural president Jordi Cuixart (whom he visited in prison): "He is a moral authority in Catalonia--he should be known more in the rest of Spain."

June 27: Pablo Iglesias says on radio RAC1 that the ERC and PSOE should have tried harder to reach agreement on a joint motion (see June 26 entries for details).

June 26: Even Barcelona Fashion Week features designs (by Miriam Ponsa) in support of the Catalan political prisoners (below).

June 26: PP and Citizens' resolution in the Spanish Congress demands no political pressure to have Catalan prisoners shifted to Catalan jails, no use of Catalan government moneys for "independence purposes", the closure of "Catalan embassies", the withdrawal of "pro-independence images" from public space and condemanation of the "xenophobic" declarations of president Quim Torra. Lost because of PSOE opposition.

June 26: In the Spanish Congress, the PSOE, along with the PP and Citizens, votes down a resolution  calling for the establishment of "bilateral discussions without preconditions or abandonment of positions, with the goal of achieving a democratic resolution of the conflict existing between the Kingdom of Spain and Catalonia."  In favour were Unidos Podemos and the alliances in which it takes part (En Marea, En Comú Podem, A la Valenciana), ERC, PDECat, Compromís, PNV and EH Bildu. The PSOE proposed a text with "direct discussions" in plce of "bilateral discussions" and "open" in place of "without preconditions or abandonment of positions".

June 26: CUP to propose to Catalan parliament that it re-affirm its sovereignty declaration of November 9, 2015. ERC to move amendment to declaration "given all that has happened since then."

June 26: PSC leader Miquel Iceta supports visit of Pablo Iglesias to jailed pro-independence leaders.

June 26: CatECP to propose all-party and social organisation commission to promote social harmony.

June 26: Cuixart thanks Iglesias for his visit and support.

June 26: Pablo Iglesias visits jailed Òmnium Cultural president Jordi Cuixart.

June 26: Former agriculture minister Meritxell Serret to be Catalan government representative in Brussels.

News (Ara, June 26)

Catalan government puts Spain's outstanding debt with Catalonia at €6 billion

VP Aragonès wants to "bring back to the table" the content of taxes annulled by Spain’s Constitutional Court

Pere Aragonès, Catalan Vice-president and Minister of Economy and Treasury, has put a figure of 6 billion euros on the cash "that should be on the table, if Spain wants to comply with all that the current financing system entails". In an interview with the CNA, the minister noted that payment of this amount "is the bare minimum", as it is a debt that comes from "unfulfilled" commitments.

As to negotiations with Spain, he said that "government-to-government work" would take priority across multilateral organs such as the Tax and Finance Policy Council, which up to now "has not been of much use". He also stated that: "We will not swap the political commitment from October 1st and all that goes with it for a little more income tax revenue ... we are beyond that stage".

On a different note, when asked about the possible recovery of taxes annulled by the Constitutional Court —such as the audiovisual fee or the tax on bank deposits— Aragonès stated that the objective is for "the content of taxes to be brought back to the table", and mentioned "different ways" of achieving this. The 6 billion euros stems from both “Catalonia’s specific powers, as well as the principle of institutional loyalty, which the Socialist Party itself approved with the Catalan Statute", he clarified.

Specifically, he referred to close to 800 million euros earmarked for Mossos d'Esquadra officers that have joined the force since 2010, 750 million euros for the third additional provision agreed upon for 2008, and almost 3 billion euros more related to this section of the Statute. In addition, there are 1.46 billion euros connected to contributions under the Law of Dependents.

After Pedro Sánchez pointed out that changes to the system cannot be completed until the next term, Aragonès said that the fact that there will be elections in several autonomous regions next year "poses difficulties" to the negotiations in this area. However, he warned that "all of these issues cannot take the place of the right to self-determination" for Catalonia. "This government was not created to negotiate a financing model. That would be like stepping into a time machine traveling back in time 15 years", he said.

In regards to the deficit, Aragonès is confident that Catalonia will meet the target of 0.4% in 2018, despite the fact that in March the deficit was already 0.34%. Aragonès argued that the first months of the year are not indicative of the year as a whole.

Aragonès, who has already ruled out drafting a budget for 2018, guaranteed that the accounts for 2019 will have higher expenditures than in 2017. The Vice-President said that from a technical point of view everything is in motion to approve the budget before the end of the year and that, if the deadline had to be put back, it would be because of political negotiations. He stated that they will begin to negotiate with the CUP, but have not closed the door on hypothetical support from Catalunya en Comú—Podemos "and, if necessary, from the PSC".

Translation: Ara

June 25: Torra: "We have to have another October 1 to effectively implement the Republic."

June 25: All Catalan parties with exception of PP and Citizens support the introduction of Whistle-blower legislation.

June 25: Unidos Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias meets with Catalan president Torra.

June 25: PSC leader Miquel Iceta in Brussels to talk to EU commisioners Muscovici and Mogherini.

Week ending June 24

June 24: Former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar raises the possibility of making pro-independence parties illegal.

June 23: GAD 3 poll for La Vanguardia gives practically no change in Catalonia, but revival of PSC in Spanish Congress elections (below). Two questions: Whom would you vote for in elections to the Catalan parliament? Vote in Catalonia in Spanish general elections.

June 22: Dolores de Cospedal, candidate for leadership of PP: "I would have applied article 155 earlier."

June 22: Torra's dedication to King Felipe on the front page of Days That Will Last For Years (below): "No lineage, law or fatherland exists that justifies the wounded, the political prisoners and the exiles. No lineage, law or fatherland exists that can stop the Catalan people's yearning for freedom." Catalan Lands, June 22, 2018.

June 22: Torra shakes hands with King Felipe, before handing him the photographic record of October 1 (Days That Will Last For Years) and the Catalan Ombudsman's report on the police violence of the day (below).

June 22: President Torra participates in the protest against the presence of King Felipe in Tarragona, organised by Òmnium Cultural and the ANC.

June 22: President Torra to take part in opening of Mediterranean Games at Tarragona, but makes clear he will not be photographed with King Felipe, will not participate in any acts organised by the Spanish monarchy, will not invite the king to any events organised by the Spanish government and resigns as honorary vice-epresident of the Princess of Girona Foundation.

June 22: CDR members occupy Catalan department of work and social welfare to demand that it begin to "disobey" and act independently.

News (Carlota Camps, El Nacional, June 21)

Spanish pressure to silence independence movement at the UN

The Catalan independence movement and the repression it faces from the Spanish state have been taken before the last two regular sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and could return in the next regular session to be held in September. This is despite the pressure from Spanish diplomats, who have tried to prevent Catalonia from being able to take its claims to the international body.

Catalonia came before the council for the first time with a speech by MEP Jordi Solé, who defended Catalonia's right to self-determination and denounced the "disproportionate and horrible" violence seen during last year's referendum and the existence of political prisoners in Spain. It returned this Tuesday, through lawyer Jordi Palou. In the name of the relatives of the prisoners and exiles, he denounced the actions of Spanish justice in the investigation of the circumstances surrounding the referendum.

It's not easy for Catalonia to have a voice at the UN, not being a state, but the pro-independence cause has a backer: the Association Bharathi Centre Culturel Franco-tamoul (Bharathi CCFT). One of the small NGO's main aims is to defend the right to self-determination. It has shown sensitivity to the case of Catalonia, offering part of its speaking time before the Human Rights Council.

It did so despite the obstacles and pressure from Spain. In March, they had to avoid pressure from Spanish diplomats by hiding the speaker's name on the agenda to avoid it being vetoed. Spanish diplomats didn't know that the case of Catalonia would come up until Solé had started his speech. When they realised, the Spanish representatives in the room appeared angry and even asked for a turn to reply.

Speaking to El Nacional, one of the NGO's officials said that, following the first speech, the monitoring and pressure from Spain faced by the organisation increased. The source says that following Solé's comments, Spanish diplomats went to speak with them, saying that the case has nothing to do with the rights of the peoples the organisation defends, that they cannot be compared because "people aren't dying" in Catalonia. They also say they were interested as to who was behind the association and what links they have with Catalonia.

After Tuesday's speech, the official says, the pressure wasn't as strong and Spanish diplomats -who for the moment haven't been replaced since Mariano Rajoy's government fell- avoid showing their anger at the lawyer's speech, simply asking the NGO for a copy of his remarks. "This week or next they'll come to speak [to us]," they say. The NGO, however, says they're used to pressure from states and won't let it interfere with their work. Moreover, they say that if they face any further pressure, they'll "report it" to the relevant UN bodies.

"By bad luck, Catalonia has no presence here [at the UN], but we're prepared to give them the opportunity to speak," they say. They add that they could give them another such opportunity in the next regular session of the Human Rights Council, in September, and by organising other events. Bharathi CCFT's objective is "to give a voice to all people who suffer occupation" and, as such, "support the Catalan cause". A member of the organisation visited Catalonia on 1st October last year to watch the referendum.

The organisation started in 2014 to strengthen cultural exchange, cooperation and communication between France and the Tamil people in India, Sri Lanka and other countries. Among their objectives are the "promotion of human rights, non-violence and peaceful solution of conflicts" and the defence of the right to self-determination. This includes defending the specific cases of Western Sahara, Quebec and Catalonia.

Translation: El Nacional

June 21: Judge suspends Montsé Venturós, CUP mayoress of Berga (capital of Berguedà shire), from office for six months for refusing to remove estelada (independence flag) form town hall.

June 21: King Felipe refuses to meet with Ctalan president Torra on the grounds that he as king is an institutional, not a political, figure.

June 21: CUP and CatECP call jointly for the proportion of women in the Catalan parliament (49.9%) to be also reflected in the composition of its commissions and sub-committees.

June 21: Banner in support of the Catalan political prisoners removed from Badalona Town Hall by new PSC administration installed with support of PP and Citizens.

Warder: "If anything's not to your liking you only have to tell us."
Iñaki Urdangarin (jailed in an exclusive prison unit for influence-peddling through use of his connections with the Spanish court and his father-in-law King Juan Carlos): "Given the time I'm thinking of staying, it's not worth your touching anything."

Ferreres, Ara, June 21

Analysis (Jordi Angusto, Ara, June 20)

The social cost of Catalonia’s fiscal deficit

The lack of public spending in Catalonia, often offset by private investment, increases social costs

While during the 1980-2016 period Catalonia maintained its economic influence —always contributing around 19% of Spanish GDP— and its relative position in terms of GDP per capita —around 120% of the average— what is there to complain about? After all, isn't its fiscal deficit offset by the trade surplus that it has with respect to the rest of Spain, as is often argued?

Starting with this second question, it's helpful to once again explain that it is an inverse relationship: the existence of a fiscal deficit requires a trade surplus, since if someone produces for 100 and has 90 to spend and invest, it will have to sell abroad more than it buys. On the other hand, to have a trade surplus does not require a fiscal deficit, as we can see in the case of Germany, which has an enormous foreign trade surplus and no fiscal deficit with the rest of the world. Or Catalonia itself, which today obtains a good part of its surplus thanks to its transactions with the rest of the world. In any case, what a foreign surplus means is production that exceeds domestic demand: everything that isn't consumed or invested domestically is sold abroad. And this brings us to a second question.

Without a fiscal deficit, Catalonia’s internal demand could be greater —whether through more investments, which would favor economic growth, or with higher salaries and public spending, which would allow for greater social welfare. As to higher investments and its effects, we would need a counterfactual analysis to find out where we would be without a fiscal deficit ... though the spectacular growth of Madrid might give us a clue. As to the effects of higher public spending, we have enough data to calculate the high social cost caused by the under-financing of the Catalan administration.

We have, for example, the European regional Social Progress Index, which was published for the first time in 2016 by the European Commission. Catalonia, which by per capita GDP occupied the 68th position among 272 European regions, dropped to the 163rd position in terms of social progress —behind eleven Spanish autonomous regions, eight of which had lower GDP per capita! And given that the Social Progress Index is calculated from data related to education, health, housing, environment ... and up to fifty factors that in overwhelming majority depend of public financing, it is clear that the fiscal deficit is largely responsible for this low level of social progress in Catalonia, as it also is in the Balearic Islands. For the same reason, it's not surprising that regions which typically receive fiscal transfers have a higher level of social progress. The same is true of Navarre and the Basque Country, thanks to their unique financial status agreements, which have much higher social progress scores, as well as Madrid, where its supposed fiscal deficit is more than compensated for by the much higher investments received.

On top of everything, low wages

Indeed, the lack of public spending in Catalonia, very often offset by private investments, has increased social costs: private schools and healthcare, highway tolls .... At the same time, it is an obstacle to social cohesion, to the extent that insufficiently funded public services push a part of society towards private alternatives. In addition, the trade surplus caused by the fiscal deficit requires a competitiveness that leads to lower salaries than would normally correspond to our productivity. That is, not only do we have fewer resources available to redistribute, but pre-distribution is also worse, as measured in the percentage of salary with respect to GDP. We will expand on this question in the next article.

In short, despite the fact that Catalonia has maintained economic influence and per capita GDP in relative terms, the current regional model has meant lower potential growth, as is made clear by the contrast with the Madrid region and its concentration of investment and spectacular growth. In addition, and most importantly, it has led to an enormous social cost that has fueled, more so than any flag-waving, a longing for radical change. The fact that this model also doesn't help less developed regions to edge closer to those which are more developed (that is, in addition to being unjust, it is inefficient) should be sufficient reason to completely reconsider the model. This will not happen via the so often praised ordinality, which assumes that the transfers will continue to be permanent as long as the community with greater GDP ends up receiving less funds; rather, it will happen by its replacement with convergence plans and, thus, by temporary and potentially reversible transfers. That is, that donors and recipients could one day exchange roles, as has happened in countries like Germany with the case of Bavaria, a former recipient and now a contributor.

Translation: Ara

June 20: PSC, PP and Citizens motion of no-confidence in Dolors Sabater, mayoress of Badalona, carried. PSC leader Àlex Pastor, now mayor with two other PSC councilors to form government.

June 20: Civil Guard cites the coordinator of "Mossos [Catalan police force] for the Republic" to appear in court to face charges of "hate crimes".

June 20: Tweet of Quim Torra: "A question: if the king on October 3 made the speech he made on the authorisation of Mr Mariano Rajoy, why does Mr Pedro Sánchez today not authorise that he talk with the president of Catalonia? Do we want dialogue or not?"

June 20: Deans of the Bar Associations of Madrid and Barcelona call for Catalan political prisoners to be moved to Catalonia.

June 20: Antonio Viejo, the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court in Madrid, refuses to admit Belgian court request for judge Pablo Llarena to appear before it to answer charges of partiality brought by Catalan president-in-exile Carles Puigdemont and four ministers in exile (three in Belgium and one in Scotland)..

June 20: Former business minister Santi Vila, opponent of October 27 declaration of independence, resigns from PDECat.

June 20: Vidal Aragonès (CUP) on the rise of the extreme right, to Catalan parliament: "They've passed from protest actions to violent actions." Aragonès cites figures of 139 violent actions with 101 victims in the past three months.

June 20: Pere Aragonès (Vice-president and ERC), to Catalan parliament. "The right to self-determination can't be swapped for improvements in regional rail."

June 20: Last three Catalan presidents--Mas, Puigdemont and Torra--send jointly signed letter to King Philip asking him to apologise for his October 3 speech.

June 20: Quim Torra tells the Catalan parliament that the right to self-determination will be "the elephant in the room" when he talks with new Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

June 20: Catalan culture minister Laura Borras asks the Citizens' MPs, who are holding up copies of Don Quixote as a protest against a University of Barcelona student picket against a Catalan Civil Society seminar on Cervantes, if they have read it: "I hope you've read it. I´ve written five articles about it--it would do you good to read it." (below)

July 19: Let's Win Badalona Together, organisation of mayoress Dolors Sabater, re-elects her as its candidate for mayoress in May 2019 local government elections one day before PSC, PP and Citizens move motion of no-confidence in her.

July 19: CatECP calls on Catalan president Quim Torra to attend the opening of the Mediterranean games in Tarragona.

July 19: CUP calls on Catalan president Quim Torra not to attend the opening of the Mediterranean games in Tarragona.

July 19: ERC MP and refugee rights activist Ruben Wagensberg proposes the creation of a parliamentary study commission on the movement of migrants and refugees and their needs.

July 19: Catalan parliament's speakership panel to propose to parliament that it set up a civil and political rights' commission.

Interview (Swiss historian and politician who was the vice president of the Green Alternative Party)

Josef Lang: “I see the future of Europe’s emancipation movements in Catalonia”

For thirty years Josef Lang (1954) was an MP for Switzerland’s Green Alternative Party, twenty-two of them as a representative in his canton and a further eight in the national parliament. Mr Lang is a prominent figure who held the office of vice president of the Green Alternative Party. Currently he is an activist against militarism who regards institutional politics from afar. He is a historian by trade and very interested in the Catalan question. So much so that he was one of the people who met Carles Puigdemont in Switzerland a few months ago. We interviewed him over the phone.

—Where does your interest in Catalonia stem from?
—In the 1980s I wrote a history dissertation on the Basques. And when you study the Basque case, you are also studying the national question in Spain, where the other big issue is Catalonia. Hence my knowledge of the matter. But there is one more reason.

—I am truly impressed by the Catalan movement, by its power and, therefore, its peaceful nature. And the fact that it did not make the same mistake as part of the Basque movement after Franco’s dictatorship: to continue their armed struggle. I think its peaceful nature is a powerful factor and a message to the whole world. The message is that you can be more effective when whole crowds rally without violence than when a small violent elite goes up in arms.

—Your own background is on the left and pacifism. And you’re a historian as well. Is the Catalan movement nationalistic?
—I don’t consider it nationalistic. The only relevant nationalism in the Spanish State is Spanish nationalism. The Catalan movement is, first and foremost, democratic. It is the people who wish to decide their own future and exercise their democratic rights. Secondly, it is a republican movement above all. So what is a republican movement doing within a monarchy? It is not like back in the 1930s. Back then, Catalonia declared a republic and Madrid followed suit only hours later. That’s not going to happen nowadays. So I think that it makes sense for a republican movement to wish to separate from a monarchy.

—You spoke to Carles Puigdemont in Switzerland a few months ago. How did your meeting go?
—We met on March 19 in a Bern hotel that used to be the city hall. He showed an interest in Swiss federalism and communalism apropos a future Catalan Republic. In fact, a Catalan Republic might adopt a centralist, federal or communalistic form. We also discussed direct democracy and how that fits into the draft Catalan constitution. I wanted to know his views on how things might evolve, but also what assurances we could have that the movement would remain peaceful. It was a very frank dialogue and ten minutes into the conversation we were already on first name terms. He was very approachable throughout. We were two people with political experience (his more substantial than mine and, especially, of a different kind) who were interested to know how a modern, 21st century democracy is organised. Two people who know the importance of pacifism, indeed, but who also understand that purely representative democracy cannot live up to the needs of the citizenry.

—Is your position on the Catalan issue shared by the majority in the Green group?
—Well, people sympathise with Catalonia but have doubts as to whether independence is the way to go. The generation under the age of 40 are influenced by the horrors of the war in the Balkans. For them words like “separation” and “self-determination” are a reminder of the Balkans horror. Besides, as this generation grew up in the 1990s, they experienced first hand the rise of right-wing nationalism in Switzerland. That also has an influence. In contrast, people over the age of 40 are more principled, they recall May 1968 and the solidarity against Franco’s regime. This generation understands the Catalan movement better than the younger age group. It is our job to explain to the young that Catalonia and what is going on there has nothing to do with the Balkans.

—What would you compare it to, then?
—I am certain that the Catalan movement is a new thing. It’s hard to find anything to compare it with. As a social movement, it is new. In my view, you are the future of social movements for emancipation. Firstly, it is a movement that can regularly rally a large segment of society. When one or two million people take to the streets in a nation of 7.5 million, it is extraordinary. Secondly, it is structured very well: thousands of small bodies, groups, associations and organisations. A civil society in the best sense of the word. An organised citizenry. And, thirdly, it is a violence-free movement but with a great deal of imagination, as proven on October 1. In Catalonia’s I see the future of emancipation movements in Europe and beyond. Look at the US today, the whole movement against fire arms. There is a resemblance. Still, as a historian what first springs to mind is the 1989 Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, and May 1968. In other words, massive rallies. Very powerful self-organisation, where there is no mighty central command, but it is the people who are in the driving seat. Very open to different internal trends. And, ultimately, peaceful. They are civil disobedience movements, in the best sense of the word.

—What about now? How do you see the new Spanish government led by PM Pedro Sánchez?
—First of all, it’s a good thing that the right-wing government has been unseated. Sánchez has been in office for a very short time and we can’t say much about him. Still, there are some positive things: direct rule has been lifted, Catalonia has regained its devolved powers and there is a chance that the prisoners might be moved to Catalonia. The downside is the new Foreign Minister, who is an anti-Catalanist, and the Interior Minister, who had a prominent role in the anti-terror effort [in the Basque Country]. There is no terrorism any more. To me those two are the drawbacks.

—What’s your take on Podemos, given that you are a member of Switzerland’s greens?
—If I lived in Madrid or Andalusia, I’d vote for them, obviously. They are straight talkers on social matters and are more sensitive towards national minorities than the PSOE. Therefore, they are a step in the right direction. But I fell that it is too apparent that Podemos was born in Madrid. I’m not sure if, deep down, they feel that the struggle of nations for self-determination —which is an unconditional right— is also their fight. I’ve criticised them for that, not for their words. For example, they were critical of direct rule and holding the Catalan leaders in pre-trial custody. They were critical but did not actively oppose it with a proper campaign, which was necessary. You must also bear in mind that Spanish nationalism has grown exponentially lately and they were afraid that some of their voters would be put off. But I am one of those who believe that principles are worth more than votes in politics. At the end of the day, I don’t think they would have lost very many over all that. Some opinion polls suggest that people are becoming more sympathetic towards the Catalan cause, even outside the Basque Country and Catalonia.

—What would you criticise the pro-independence camp for?
—I believe it was a mistake to take a step back once independence had been declared. Puigdemont himself has stated that he believed Madrid’s promises. Still, myself I would have taken a different path, not far from independence but a little more integrative towards the people who are afraid. Perhaps they could have started a constituent process which initially would not establish full independence. And so you embark on an open journey. Now, it is equally true that the Spanish government would not have accepted such a constituent process. But things would have been very different then and many who harbour doubts about independence have none about the Catalans’ right to initiate a constituent process. My strategy would have been a little different. As a matter of fact, I think it’s not too late for you to start such a process. Think about the people who are afraid. I told Carles Puigdemont: you should work harder to win over the segment of the population that is afraid of independence. Many of them are working class and they would like to know if social benefits in an independent or sovereign Catalonia would be better than in Spain.

—And what is your view on the EU’s position?
—I feel that the attitude of the EU and the European governments can’t be interpreted as fear of separatism. I don’t think so. Otherwise, the UK and Belgium ought to be very anti-Catalan because those states have a separatist threat within. But, in fact, it’s the opposite: Belgium and the UK are very sympathetic towards Catalonia. I believe there is a different reason. The EU is not afraid of separation, but of something else. They are afraid of a social movement that embodies the future of social movements in Europe. The homeless, the jobless, trade unions. Catalonia might be setting an example for all of them by proving that an organised citizenry can actually bring about change.

Translation: Vilaweb

July 18: Catalan government rejects ANC proposal for it to favour "pro-Republican" enterprises.

July 18: Antoni Castellà (Democrats): "If the Catalan government doesn't obey the mandate of October 1, don't count on us."

July 18: Catalan branches of majority trade union confederations CCOO and UGT call for release of political prisoners as starting point for negotiations with the Spanish government.

July 18: Òmnium Cultural to open office in Brussels.

Week ending June 17

July 17: Second congress of CUP affiliate Poble Lliure calls for united lists of pro-independence candidates for the May 2019 local government elections.

July 17: Elisenda Paluzie (ANC president): "If there really were an offer from the state to achieve independence in an agreed way, our obligation would be to listen to it. But this offer will not arrive and so we have to continue on our way."

July 16: Citizens' leader Albert Rivera proposes a 3% threshhold for elections to the Spanish Congress, so that Catalan, Basque and Galician pro-independence parties cannot win representation.

July 16: Municipal congress of PDECat calls for united pro-independence tickets for the May 2019 local government elections.

July 16: Jordi Cuixart, in preventive imprisonment, re-elected president of Òmnium Cultural with 99% of the vote. Òmnium is now the largest social organisation in Catalonia, with over 120,000 members.

Interview (Àngel Martínez, El Nacional, June 16)

Alexis Marí Malonda (Valencia, 1972) is a director of private security, an ex-member of the Civil Guard and a now-independent member of parliament in the autonomous region of the Comunitat Valenciana - the Valencian Community. A year ago he ceased to be a representative and, indeed, parliamentary spokesperson for the Citizens (Ciudadanos, Cs) political party, abandoning the party together with three other MPs due to open discrepancies with leader Albert Rivera - a leader who, according to Alexis Marí, has surrounded himself with the worst of the extreme right and operates using Mafia-like practices which the Gestapo would be at home with. When he left Cs he described his former party colleagues as the "rubble of the PP". He is also married to Carolina Punset, MEP for Citizens.

Do you have any friends left in Ciudadanos?
Yes. I have a thousand faults, but one virtue, and it is that I act with empathy. I try to earn everyone's friendship, even if they are very distant from my political ideology.

How did such a radical change take place in your ideological relationship with Cs in the period from 2015 to 2017?
I could give you a thousand examples at policy and identity level. I still have some emails from the current Ciudadanos leaders in which they said that, when we went to protests, it was necessary to go without any Spanish flags, or even regional ones. It was a party that wanted to show itself as being part of the citizenry. And that everyone could choose their own identity without imposing ideas, colours or flags.

What has Ciudadanos been converted into?
You can see. At the last meeting, blowing kisses to Marta Sánchez [who sang a new version of the Spanish national anthem]. They could not have found a bigger Spanish flag. Ciudadanos is practicing a rancid nationalism with a very dangerous discourse which is not open to debate. Let me explain: I stood for election for Cs with a programme that described the party as progressive, and now it is no longer that at all; it is not transversal either, it was liberal because it let individuals decide what they wanted to do... and, of all this, nothing remains either. They made a political shift and decided to go from calling themselves "social democrats" to "liberals", and now the most ultra-liberal and rancid part has triumphed.

And this also happened in the Valencian Community context?
Of course, when we committed ourselves to abolish the law on symbols of [cultural] identity there was already a divide in our vote. And also in positionings such as, for example, green issues, about closing nuclear power stations or not. From an initial doubt, they moved to a position of abstention and from there to a "no". A radical change; instead of the idea of "let's move away from...", what dominated was "this leaves us with...". And I do not like to waste energy sharing it with people with whom you clearly see you will not reach a goal together. I was invited to the wedding but I was the cousin who they did not want to invite. The definitive rupture occurred with the Spanish budget presented by Rajoy's PP government which was highly detrimental to the Valencian Community. We, all the parliamentary groups, signed a document rejecting the budget. It was at that moment when someone in the Cs leadership told me that this was a [pro-Valencian] "nationalist" act. And that's where the love affair ended.

They say that when you were a representative of Cs in the Valencian parliament, you flirted with the left-wing government.
That is the cheap discourse made by people who can't find an excuse. When Ciudadanos arrived in Valencia we said that it was necessary to change things. We did not want a PP that was corrupt to its very core, and so it did not matter if to get that we had to vote for initiatives with Podemos, the [left-wing] Compromís group, the Valencian Socialist Party (PSPV) or even with the PP. We voted for democratic regeneration with Podemos, for environmental questions with Compromís, and we stripped down a law on symbols of identity that seemed rancid: "If you ate paella, you were a good Valencian and if didn't, you weren't". Afterwards they forced us to change in such a way that we were more aligned with the right-wing parties than with those who wanted to change the ways of doing things.

Is it pensée unique - ideological conformism?
I see speeches by Cs leaders Arrimadas, Páramo or Villegas and they sound the same. If you step half a millimetre out of line, they fumigate you. I ask myself out loud: do all the members of a party share the same ideology a hundred percent? Isn't it possible to say "I don't like this", independently of the discipline of voting? The treatment of Catalonia, and its Mossos d'Esquadra police, or the great concern that they have discovered with Spanish security forces since October 1, is paradigmatic. My background is in the security forces and, what a coincidence, after October 1, the party became concerned with them. Beforehand, we weren't at all. That's it, they fill your belly with this stuff. And either I vomit, or I burst.

However, this narrative is making Cs more popular.
That's how they're going. There are people who have bought this powerful discourse, of being against something and digging trenches with the intention of insisting that "you are either in this trench or in the other one". There is no intermediate zone, and you can't reach agreements or pacts. If an alien landed in Plaza Colón in Madrid, it would automatically become an independence supporter, because of everything that is happening.

Is the independence movement in Catalonia favouring Ciudadanos?
There are facts that are irrefutable. Since Rajoy came to power, how many independence supporters and people uncomfortable with the evolution of the state have there been? There have to be bilateral relationships between an autonomous community and the central government. You don't have to be an expert to see that all that has gradually gone rotten. Catalan speaker Torrent was left waiting for Rajoy to receive him...

You have been active in Ciudadanos, so what's the party's proposal for Catalonia?
I don't know. What's happening, is everyone in Catalonia crazy? Guardiola, Eduard Punset, people with tremendous intellectual prestige... Criminalising half of the population of Catalonia, whatever they think, is an error. There are many Cs leaders in Catalonia who have done nothing more than pour petrol on the situation by making jokes on Twitter - such as those aimed at former minister Mundó for example [when he was jailed]. I know what prisons are like and they are not Paris Disneyland  They are places where you suffer severely and yet we have people who only encourage a polarisation, not the bringing closer together, of positions. Both Carolina Punset and I feel terrible that someone like Oriol Junqueras is in prison. Imagine what they will say in Ciudadanos if they get to hear this...

The four of you form the No Adscrits - the "Non-assigned" parliamentary group, together with two former PP deputies. Will the regional elections in 2019 bring your parliamentary group closer to extinction or will you listen to offers?
(Laughs) This is not like a private company where if they fire you or you lose interest in the project you contact your friends elsewhere in the sector. Yes, there have been contacts with other groups where we might fit in, but you have to think what you want to do. I could go back to my professional activity; but we will see.

Are you behind the  Valencian Civil Society platform that is being assembled to replicate the Catalan anti-independence civil group, Catalan Civil Society (SCC)?
No. Moreover, I have seen profiles that are at the polar opposite of my political ideology. I wish them luck, but I will not be there. I am more interested in think tanks on starting dialogue and generating ideas. I would sit down and talk with Elsa Artadi, for example.

Will Carolina Punset continue in Ciudadanos?
I think I know the answer but I can't say it. Many times I have asked her, "What are you doing there?" I believe that Ciudadanos is not a party that represents her; she would be better off with the Greens, but you'll have to ask her.

Going back to Ciudadanos again, what is their ideology?
I would pay you half my salary if you could tell me. If today we vote for something in the parliament and four months later in a party discussion, the opposite is agreed, and this causes people to complain. When I get into taxis I am always asked: are you right-wing or left-wing? Ciudadanos is not transversal.

You always talk about being able to adopt the initiatives of other parties. But what are your own ones?
There are videos on the internet of Albert Rivera in which he says that the party's economic policy will be made by the affiliates, "but we have [economist] Garicano". They can't just go changing the policy in response to what the opinion pollsters tell them. If it is in their interests, they take on the role of being the "house brand" for the PP because the polls show it favours them.

If there is anything I like about the Compomís group, and about the Valencian education minister Vicent Marzà, for example, it is that they do not go outside the ideology that they want to put into practice and work out how they will do it. And if afterwards their percentage of votes goes up, all the better. But in Ciudadanos they don't care about anything. Let them count the amount of people who have left them for this reason: the spokespeople for the provincial administrations of Alacant and Valencia, the Spanish MP for Castelló, Carolina Punset, as you know she isn't completely happy with Ciudadanos... and many affiliates who have left because they lost their motivation. All because of the change of course that nobody explained.

What has been your most important parliamentary contribution?
My attitude, which has made Ciudadanos uncomfortable, has for example been in favour of the starting of the new Valencian regional public television, À Punt. But here, in Valencia, it is always the same, if you "catalanise" you create conflict: because people say that in [Catalan public television] TV3, it's all about mafia and indoctrination. We put four conditions on giving support to the creation of À Punt: spending limits, representation on the Board, that it helps to develop Valencia territorially and that it invigorates the audiovisual sector. If these four conditions have been met, why are we now going to say no?

And another commitment has been for a Valencian regional police force. I know the Mossos d'Esquadra and know that they have served Catalonia exceptionally well. But there is a lack of knowledge. I have Mossos friends who are brilliant at their jobs. Anyone who knows [former Mossos chief] Josep Lluís Trapero cannot deny his professionalism. He has built that himself. He has taken apart organised gangs and won the respect of those who have worked with him. And now, they try to tell us that the Mossos are vandals. To raise doubts and suspicions about the Mossos is a very serious error.

Translation: El Nacional, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

July 15: (The National, Scotland): Merkel told Rajoy ‘Europe cannot accept’ police brutality during independence referendum'

July 15: Spanish government spokesperson Isabel Celaá on the re-opening of Catalan diplomatic offices: "We see it as normal."

July 15: Spanish government spokesperson Isabel Celaá on the prisoners: "The government will study the situation and act for the benefit of everyone."

July 15: ANC to create web site listing Catalan businesses that have "demonstrated their commitment to the Republic."

July 15: Ernest Maragall (Catalan foreign minister): "The only decent solution is to release the prisoners."

July 15: Roger Torrent (speaker, Catalan parliament): "It's totrally clear that the decision [on moving the Catalan prisoners] belongs to the interior ministry."

News (Lluís Bou, El Nacional, June 14)

Puigdemont making political contacts in Germany

The Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, has met today in Berlin with the minister-president of the federal state of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), as revealed by Ramelow himself. Puigdemont is making political contacts in Germany whilst awaiting a decision by the country's courts on Spain's application for his extradition. Thuringia has expressed repeated support of the Catalan people's right to self-determination.

Puigdemont gave Ramelow and his colleagues who also attended the meeting, a copy of the book Dies que duraran anys (literally "Days which will last years", untranslated into English) by journalist Jordi Borràs, which collects together photographs of last year's Catalan referendum and the police repression.

"I was very pleased to receive and talk to Carles Puigdemont today. We agreed that it's a question of starting a dialogue between the central Spanish government and Catalonia about the future of Spain. In the end, the people have to be able to decide," Ramelow wrote on Twitter.

Before the meeting, the president of Thuringia commented on the news that Belgium will study the alleged Spanish spying on Puigdemont in the country. "Criminal law and shows of power are no way to successful progress. Today I'm feeling the negative side of separatism especially clearly."

Translation: El Nacional

June 14: Catalan parliament to launch suit against Supreme Court judge Llarena and three judges of the court's appeals division for preventing jailed and exiled Catalan MPs from attending parliament and, in the case of Jordi Sànchez and Josep Turull, from standing for the position of Catalan president.

June 14: Today marks eight months of preventive detention of Catalan mass movement leaders Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart.

June 14: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena orders the lifting of the bail conditions applying to the former Catalan parliament speakership panel members facing possible charges for allowing debate on referendum legislation on September 6 and 7 last year. This is the first time Llarena has heeded an appplication from those he is investigating.

June 14: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena denies that he has the authority to order the shifting of the Catalan political prisoners to jails in Catalonia, as asserted this morning by interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

June 14: Catalan foreign minister Ernest Maragall announces plan for reopening of Catalan diplomatic missions.

June 14: "Primaries for the Republic" set up as a platform to coordinate the creation of single, pro-independence tickets for next May's municipal elections.

News (El Nacional, June 12)

Guardiola paid to repair migrant-rescue boat impounded in Italy

The founder of Catalan NGO Proactiva Open Arms, Òscar Camps, has said that football coach Pep Guardiola paid for the repairs to the foundation's boat, Open Arms, damaged by weather while being held in Italy. The Manchester City manager gave 150,000€ (£130,000, $180,000) for it to be put back in working order. Camps said, in an interview on El Món a RAC1, that he is not the only sportsperson to have offered help.

The NGO's founder explained that their main source of funding is small donations via social media, whilst their annual expenses on maritime operations are almost three million euros. As such, he says, they have to collaborate with other patrons and bodies, including the Deputation of Barcelona.

The chief prosecutor of Catania, Sicily's second-largest city, ordered, in March, for the vessel to be impounded and for an investigation to be opened into a possible crime of "promoting illegal migration" against crew members who were accused of having refused to returns migrants to Libyan coastguards.

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Italian police presented themselves at the boat and demanded documentation from its captain, Marc Reig. Reig in turn requested to see a legal warrant, for which he was asked to accompany them to the police station along with the NGO's mission chief, Anabel Montes.

Later, Reig was taken into custody, according to his lawyer, Rosa Emanuela Lo Faro. The vessel was released just under a month later.

Translation: El Nacional

June 13: PDECat proposes to lead "all-inclusive" ticket for next year's Barcelona Council elections (that is, as against the proposal for non-party primaries among all independence supporters).

June 13: Belgian Federal Parliament to investigate activities of Spanish secret police in Belgium with regard to Carles Puigdemont.

June 13: Three tickets to stand for leadership of Catalonia Together: one led by Xavier Domènech aimed at "including all sensibilities", a "federalist" ticket made up of those who opposed October 1 and a ticket initiated by Anticapitalists.

June 13: Chakir El Homrani, Catalan minister for labour, social affairs and families (and first ever minister of Moroccan background) says that adopting guaranteed minimum income is the government's most important social welfare task.

June 13: Chakir El Homrani, Catalan minister for labour, social affairs and families, denounces the holding up under article 155 of €800 million in funding to the volunteer sector.

June 13: Borrell: "We cannot stop Diplocat if it doesn't infringe any norm."

Reactions to Borrell (El Nacional, June 11)

Wave of criticism of Spain's new foreign minister

Spain's brand new foreign affairs minister, Josep Borrell (seen hear addressing last October 8 unionist rally in Barcelona alongside PP Catalan leader Xavier García Albiol), hasn't got his mandate off to the best start; this Sunday evening he said, in an interview on TV channel La Sexta, that Catalonia "is on the edge of a civil clash". According to the PSOE minister, there's "a lot tension" because it's "a serious moment in the history of Spain". This comment has caused him to receive a wave of criticism on social media from the front lines of Catalan politics.

Quim Torra

The Catalan president's response was concise: "it's incomparably irresponsible". During the interview on Sunday, Borrell mentioned the new president: "Quim Torra's narrative presents Catalonia as a colony occupied by the Spanish since 1714, and aims to play the Kosovo card".

Carles Puigdemont

The president in exile described Borrell as a "crime novel minister", going on to say: "the far-right lends him the ink to write the fictional narrative which justifies the current repression and that to come, to forge a climate of fear and confrontation which, much to his regret, doesn't exist in Catalonia".

Josep Bargalló

The Catalan education minister has also replied in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio: "Enough of saying drivel, of saying nonsense and of inventing stories".

Mireia Boya

The former CUP deputy goes further: "If Borrell says that we're close to civil confrontation it's because he wants it [to be true], to vindicate those who legitimise him and to continue with the impunity of the violent far-right. Let's look after ourselves".

She returned to the topic this morning: "One thing, inciting violence like Borrell does, how many years in preventive detention without trial is that? It's for some friends".

Gonzalo Boye

Boye, a lawyer representing some of the ministers in exile, wrote: "I thought they'd named him minister of foreign affairs and not of propaganda".

Lluís Llach

The former JxSí deputy, and a famous Catalan singer-songwriter, wrote: "Name of the film. 'A minister on the edge of a nervous breakdown'".

Ernesto Ekaizer

The journalist Ernesto Ekaizer brought up both the new interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera: "If, as Borrell says, "Catalonia is on the edge of a civil clash", will interior minister Marlaska send reinforcements to prevent the "clash"? Is this a statement from the foreign minister or the interior minister?. NO. Statement by a pyromaniac. Borrell competing with Rivera."

Betona Comín

The sister of exiled former health minister, Toni Comín, posted: "Minister Borrell, now you have responsibilities in the Spanish government, you should be more aware of what that means. You have no shame making these statements!".

It's not just public figures and politicians who have criticised the foreign minister:

Nuria

Mr Miquel Iceta, Mr Pedro Sánchez, are you proud and in agreement with the drivel that Mr Borrell has published? This is the path you see to return the situation in Catalonia to normal? Doesn't it embarrass you?

Mercedes

Mr Borrell, don't lie or take us for idiots, we're not, loose lips sink ships and your words are recorded

Mmoritz

And I'd like Mr Borrell to stop spreading things that aren't true. They're very serious the statements he made yesterday. Living 600km away makes you lose track of reality.

Ramon Febrer

For the independence movement, Borrell will still be better than Rajoy. The favour they're doing the independence movement! Thanks Borrell.

Translation: El Nacional

June 12: ANC proposes that October 1 become a national holiday in Catalonia.

June 12: Former PSOE PM José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero: "The only way to solve the Catalan situation is to return to the situation before the PP's appeal against the 2006 Statute."

June 12: CUP demands that Catalan laws blocked by the Spanish Constitutional Court be adopted a second time by Catalan parliament.

June 12: Tweet of former education minister Clara Ponsati's defence lawyer Aamer Anwar.

At today’s hearing Lord Advocate’s team concede crime of rebellion cannot constitute ‘corruption’ in Extradition Framework and still to confirm alleged crime in Law of Scotland- we will also consider citing Rajoy’s ministers to court

June 12: Torra letter to European  PMs.pdf

June 12: Catalan government decides to stop closure of DIPLOCAT decided under Spanish government's article 155 intervention.

Backgrounder (El Nacional, June 9)

Catalan government spokesperson Elsa Artadi interviewed

New Catalan minister for the Presidency, Elsa Artadi, (Barcelona, 1976) has a temporary office in one of the Generalitat palace's ceremonial spaces - the Saló de Sant Jordi - while she waits for a permanent office at the other end of the Catalan government building. On the walls of her space, there is a photo of president in exile Carles Puigdemont, and a series of sketches. It is Friday, little more than a week since the new Catalan government took power, the corridors of the building are full of boxes, with the moving-in process still in full swing. Some of those boxes are awaiting their final move to the vice-presidency area.

This week the new Spanish government has been sworn in, a week after the Catalan executive. At that time, new Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez attacked Catalan president Quim Torra, calling him a "supremacist". Now he has nominated Josep Borrell as a minister, a man who has spoken about "disinfecting Catalonia"... What chance of dialogue do you see between the two executives?
Certainly those are not the words that we would want to hear from the Spanish government. To get into a match of discrediting, insulting and lying in this way is under no circumstances the way to find dialogue and build bridges. We want to see what steps they decide to take, but certainly, we would have liked to see ministerial profiles that were much more progressive.

Yesterday you said you were worried by this Spanish government...
Yes, I said that the interior minister [Fernando Grande-Marlaska] worries me. I am probably not the only Catalan citizen to be concerned, and likely there are Spanish citizens that feel the same. He is the minister of the Yak-42 [military air accident]. Of the nine verdicts condemning Spain at the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg for not investigating torture, six of them are connected with the new interior minister. But I repeat, we prefer to allow some time to see what actions the government takes before prejudging what they will do.

And the minister of culture?
That is different. There are statements he's made that disqualify him from holding a post like this [like "I shit on fucking independence supporters"]. It surprises us that an executive which has created an equality ministry is not concerned about certain declarations made by the minister himself. Somebody needs to think about the coherence of this government.

They have not specified when Pedro Sánchez will meet Quim Torra, and it has been said they would try and schedule it before summer...
To us, that is important. We are willing to sit down at the table at any time. We have asked for dialogue, asked to meet. Now it is up to them to set the date. For us, [it would be] this very afternoon. Because we give it full priority.

It seems that the Sanchez government does not give it such priority...
The facts speak for themselves...

This dialogue that you are asking for, what will it be to speak about?
About how we resolve the current situation. What does Pedro Sànchez think of the repression that exists in Catalonia, and the democratic regression? What does he think of having a Spanish government that systematically torpedos the Catalan Parliament's passing of any minimally ambitious law, by sending it to the Constitutional Court so that it ends up being annulled? What offer is Sánchez thnking of making to Catalans? We come to this with a willingness to listen to what he has to say. We are very clear about what we want. We have always said what we want: for people to express themselves and decide what their future should be like. Their future and that of their children. Until now the only thing that we have heard is no, no, no and no. What do they offer? Their famous federal model. The right to self-determination that the Spanish Socialists [PSOE] backed in the past, what's left of that?

Sánchez has said that he is willing to talk about everything, except independence...
He has to explain to us what he thinks about the international agreements that Spain has signed which recognise the right to self-determination of peoples. What does he think about democracy, about the wishes of millions of Catalans who do not want to continue being Spaniards. This is not about just saying "I'm not talking about that". That is an act of extreme irresponsibility by someone who governs. He has to say what his position is. His position can't be "we can't talk about that".

Will president Torra go to the meeting with a specific proposal?
We haven't got the date, and haven't prepared the meeting yet. But he has said repeatedly that it's important to be able to speak about everything, frankly, sincerely, and not with the pressure of immediacy. Does it seem acceptable to him that people of peace, democrats, are in prison or exile? Does he see this as normal, yes or no? 

Will prisoners and exiles be part of this dialogue?
We have the clear conviction that this remand in prison is unjust, that it's an extremely cruel preventive detention, and our wish is for the prisoners to be released as it makes no sense to accuse them of rebellion or to have held them in preventive jail for 7 months.

Do you want the position of the Public Prosecutors to change?
We express our desires, our convictions and principles. We are open to talking with the Spanish government. They are the ones who have to decide where they are positioned. Whether they have a vision of democratic regression and repression of the people, and therefore of historical regression, or if they will decide to be a progressive, open and pro-European government.

Would moving the Catalan prisoners to Catalan prisons be a first step that you would see as a gesture?
For us to negotiate the transfer of the prisoners to another prison would mean accepting that their preventive detention has some justification, and it does not have.

What do you think of the images released from Estremera prison showing Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras and ministers Quim Forn and Raül Romeva?
They seem extremely serious to me. I believe that the prisons have opened an inquiry. They are not just images made at one time and place, but rather are filmed across different days and locations. Therefore, they demonstrate a lack of security and a violation of the rights of people who are already in an extremely delicate situation. They are shocking images. They leave an emotional impact.

In the previous legislature, the Catalan government rejected attending multilateral Spanish commissions on funding and other questions linked to Catalan self-government. What will it do now?

This is a discussion we have to finish having at the level of the Catalan executive, but in principle, we are talking about a bilateral path. Initial meetings at the highest level, between Torra and Sánchez, and from there, on bilateral and sector issues. There are commissions which our experience tells us not to attend, such as Spain's Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy, at which the ministry has 50% of the votes, and only has to convince one autonomous community to vote for it. Catalonia's power of influence is null. And the meetings are almost like shop windows - not so much a meeting as arguments about issues.

And so?
Our proposal is the bilateral path, just as we have said at other times.

On Friday you met with Catalan Socialists leader Miquel Iceta. How will you restore dialogue with Cuidadanos now that their Catalan leader Inés Arrimadas has refused to go to the Generalitat palace until the banner on the façade, with the yellow bow, is removed?
President Torra has reiterated his offer and has left it open for her to come and talk whenever she wants to. We are open, we are offering our hand in dialogue and we await her here on the day that she wants to come.

She has said that she won't come until the banner is removed from the façade...
It's partially an excuse, as it is clear that we won't take down the banner, we won't stop defending the return of the political prisoners and exiles. The yellow ribbon is in defence of democracy, freedom and fundamental rights. It seems peculiar that they don't want to enter the Palau de la Generalitat because there is a yellow bow on it, when there are yellow bows on many buildings right now, starting with the Barcelona city hall, and I suppose that they continue going there. It doesn't seem to me that it is the best way to talk. It seems more of an excuse, because it is obvious that we will have the banner as long as it is necessary.

However, last Wednesday in the Catalan Parliament, the yellow ribbons were removed from the rows where the government members sit...
That was a decision of Parliament's Committee of Party Spokespeople. Not a decision by the government of Catalonia.

What do you think about the PDeCAT's announcement that it will use the JxCat brand for the municipal elections in 2019?
Legally the brand is theirs, I have nothing to say.

But would you have preferred the brand to be that of a more open platform?
My opinion on the municipal elections is that where possible, unitary electoral lists should be presented. I believe that in the PDeCAT there is no opposition to this. As a believer in independence, as a republican, whenever there can be a unitary list all over Catalonia, it seems to me that that should be the principle. It is also true that often there are local circumstances, and I do not want to ignore their importance because they are no doubt very important.

And emblematic city councils like that of Barcelona?
For me, it is obvious that we should stand with a unitary list in Barcelona.

There is a certain perception at the grass-roots of the independence movement, that president Carles Puigdemont is being sidelined to some extent, that he does not have as important a role as he should...
I talk to him practically every day. For us he is very much present. He is the indisputable leader of JxCat. He has political capital, expertise and leadership that are unquestionable. For us he is present in all political dimensions in which we work. What is probably happening is that over the last few weeks he has not been in Waterloo, we have not been able to activate the Council for the Republic, he can't travel, he is in a more restricted situation due to the second European arrest warrant. It is probably due to this specific issue that it seems that he has less of a voice.

Is the contact daily?
By message, videoconference or telephone.

What power does Puigdemont have on the decisions of the government?
We share decision-making naturally as he is leader of JxCat. There is no complexity in putting that into practice. We comment on it, we speak. There is not just one person who takes the decisions. We are a team.

It is a complicated situation...
But in practice it isn't for us. We already went through the Catalan election campaign like this. The months from the December 21st election until the Catalan government took power. There are working teams with different opinions and there is not just one person who takes decisions, and not just a single opinion. We discuss and we work as a team.

What is the goal of this legislature for the government?
To reinstate, which we have only partially done, because they have not let us form the government we wanted to form; defence of civil and political rights, in particular of the political prisoners and exiles, and this also includes the support for the judicial strategy, internationalization, and so on. And with the ultimate objective being the Catalan Republic, which we do not know if it will be at the beginning, or closer to the end, if it will be in this legislature. We can't say because nobody knows, but the goal is very clear.

In the previous legislature the government was criticised for its road maps and deadlines that were too strict. This government can be criticised for the opposite reason: it doesn't have a road map. Does this executive have a road map? 
We have lines of action, the principles on which we want to act, our priorities, but there is a thing that has changed a lot over these last two years, the playing field changes dramatically from one day to the next. It is impossible to plan for a month ahead. We are used to being clear about what we're heading for, to be clear on the lines of action, how they have to be coordinated, and to be constantly applying the criterion of "what is best for the Republic?". 

How long will this legislature, this government, last?
We don't know. We want it to last four years. Unless in the middle something happens that changes the framework for the better.

Do you think there could be the possibility of Puigdemont returning during these four years?
We would never renounce that. As a matter of fact we are fighting for his declaration of status as an MP, that is in the DNA of JxCAT - he is the legitimate president of Catalonia. And president Torra has only accepted his office because we stated in advance that the restitution of Puigdemont to the presidency was one of the priorities of JxCAT.

You say you will build the Republic. What does it mean to build the Republic? 
It means exercising full government competences and full control of the territory. Right now this is not happening.

When you say this and talk about restoring self-government, that is when the CUP party say that you are "autonomists" - that you accept being an autonomous region in Spain...
It's where we come from. When the CUP ask us to lower university fees, is that building the republic or being autonomist? You can't put the autonomist label on at certain times and forget it at others. JxCat had to take a decision that was not simple. Because it had many nuances. Was it better to stand fast and end up going to new Catalan elections, or to recover control of the Catalan government that we can have, which is not complete. We decided that it was better, in order to continue going forward and defend the interests of Catalonia, to recover the institutions. And this is what we did. Now, what state are the institutions in? Not as they were in August 2017. To continue constructing, we first have to reconstruct. But this does not mean that our vital objective is to return to August 2017. Obviously not.

When you talk about making the Republic, are you talking about having a referendum agreed on with the Spanish State, about restoring the 1st October referendum result, or what...?
It is about keeping on pushing in all areas so that they can happen, from the Constituent Process, to support the build-up to the local elections from the parliamentary groups, to fully activate parliament so that it is a true republican forum, to continue carrying out international, diplomatic political actions. We will see what happens when the court decisions in Germany and Scotland come out, when things start to move in Switzerland, when it is demonstrated that justice systems at European level see that what happened in Catalonia is a democratic and peaceful process instead of a rebellion. Everything has to go in parallel. Is that simple? No, obviously not. Is it a task that will yield results overnight? Obviously, not. We have to be patient. When we decide to go back to the institutions it is because we think that we will thus give better support. In the coming autumn there be some tense and difficult moments at social level when the trials of the civil and political leaders start. We believe that it is better to be inside the institutions than outside. It was a decision which we believed was shared by the majority of the independence movement. Maybe not totally, because even in our parliamentary group there is a lot of debate. This is fundamental, that there is debate and that afterwards, what the majority believes to be correct is carried out.

How will you face the trials in the autumn?
We'll have to see things evolve, if there are suspensions, if there are charges of rebellion or if they reduce the charges, if changes have taken place through the general public prosecutor... Predicting what the political situation will be like in October or November is very complicated. We have some uncertainty about the schedule. We know that some requests for evidence and appearances being asked for by the defence are not being accepted and so the trials could start earlier. We will see what has happened in the meantime, with the civil case presented by the ministers and the president against judge Pablo Llarena, if this causes a challenge of Llarena or not.

In the midst of this situation, you have said that you don't renounce acting unilaterally or the Catalans' right to decide...
What I said was that the Catalan government does not have the authority to take the right of self-determination away from the people of Catalonia. We don't have the power to do this. Catalans have the right to self-determination whatever the government of Catalonia says. They have this as citizens of the Catalan nation. There is nothing more to it. We can't take it away from them either. We can't, in an abstract way, renounce either unilateral action or disobedience. How we act has to be decided case by case. 1st October was a unilateral action. We defend it and we claim it as ours, the same as millions of Catalans do. We will not renounce the ability to act unilaterally or use civil disobedience at a time when it is necessary. This does not imply that in 48 hours time we are going to declare independence, but it does imply that at every moment we will evaluate what the best thing to do is.

Is this what president Torra will say to Spanish prime minister Sánchez?
I have no doubt that president Torra will explain to Sánchez that the Catalans have the right to self-determination and that is not in our power to take it away from them. I am sure of that.

Puigdemont says that he will not stand for elections again...
We'll see. He didn't have to stand on 21st December either...

However, the central axis of JxCat is Puigdemont...
Clearly.

Translation: El Nacional

June 11: The Catalan government offers to receive the refugee rescue ship Aquarius,presently in international waters after being refused access to Italian and Maltese ports. The Spanish government decides it should go to Valencia.

June 11: CatECP leader Xavier Domènech says in any constitutional reform the specificity of Catalonia and its right to self-determination would have to be recognised.

June 11: CatECP leader Xavier Domènech says his group is prepared to vote for next Catalan budget on various conditions.

June 11: Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau: "It's in Sánchez's hands as to whether the prisoners are moved to Catalan jails."

June 11: Jonqueras on Sánchez: "He can risk himself or settle for progressive posturing."

June 11: Minister for territories Meritxell Batet on Ponsati statement that "we were bluffing": "Proof of the huge irresponsibility of a government that was playing with society as a whole."

Week ending June 10

News (Alba Domingo, El Nacional, June 10)

Referendum-phobia: three Spanish ministers say 'no' to an authorised Catalan vote

The possibility of an authorised referendum on Catalan independence sets off a phobic reaction in the new Spanish government: in a single day, no less than three ministers in Pedro Sánchez's freshly appointed Spanish cabinet have come out and said "no" to Catalonia's right to self-determination. In three separate newspaper interviews, in the first weekend after Spain's new socialist government took power, territorial administration minister Meritxell Batet, works minister José Luis Ábalos, and vice president Carmen Calvo have all stated very clearly that "there is nothing to negotiate" with respect to a referendum.

"It is not a question of finding out who would vote yes or no", according to Meritxell Batet, holder of the territorial administration portfolio, asserting that a referendum "would not get us out of the conflict". In an interview in El Periódico, the minister explained that "it is not a case of using a vote as a tie-breaker", but rather to "search for a consensus solution".

New Spanish vice president Carmen Calvo also referred to the issue in an interview in El País. "The referendum is not part of any agenda held by the government of Spain. It cannot be. We are also the government of the Catalans, both of the independence supporters and of those who expect that their government is able to give them the tranquility that they need."

And in the same line, new works minister and organizational secretary for the PSOE party, José Luis Ábalos, also flatly rejected Catalonia's right to self-determination in an interview in the ABC newspaper: “On the subject of a referendum, there is nothing to negotiate” he said.

Catalan Socialist leader Miquel Iceta - not part of the Spanish cabinet but a likely key figure in negotiations - has also affirmed "that there is no margin for a referendum".

Translation: The new Sánchez government will not include a referendum in the dialogue with Catalonia. "There is nothing to negotiate." From the new socialist government they do not believe that a referendum will provide a solution to the conflict in Catalonia... - La Sexta Noticias

The new executive of Pedro Sánchez did consent to put on the table the 45 points that Catalan president Carles Puigdemont —and before him, president Artur Mas— proposed to Mariano Rajoy two years ago. In total, though, there were 46 points proposed by the Catalan leaders, with the last on the list being the holding of a referendum. Just as occurred with the government of Mariano Rajoy, a referendum will not be part of the hypothetical offer of dialogue by the new Spanish government.

These declarations arrive the day after the UN's independent expert for the promotion of democracy, Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, affirmed that it is necessary to understand that "Catalonia has its own distinct culture and traditions" and that, therefore, "the only way forward is through a new referendum". Moreover, de Zayas emphasised that all member states of the United Nations and/or countries that are part of International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, have "legally committed to respect and to promote the right of self-determination".

Translation: El Nacional

June 10: Isabel Bonig, president of the PP in the Valencian Country, to Pedro Sánchez: "Stop the pretensions,interferences and provocations of pro-independence people like Puigdemont towards Valencia."

June 10: Catalan vice-president Pere Aragonès on the new Sánchez ministry: "Pessimistic, they are what they are."

June 10: 100,000 take part in human chain linking the capitals of the three provinces of Euskadi (Bilbo-Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Gasteiz-Vitoria), to demand right to self-determination (below).

June 10: Only 200 far rightists take part in demonstration outside Channel 3 TV headquarters.

Background (Adria Rovira, El Nacional, June 8)

The Spanish director of national security believes in UFOs

The new Spanish director of national security, nominated by the cabinet this Friday, is army colonel Pedro Baños, an expert in jihadist terrorism. The colonel is a frequent contributor on Cuarto Milenio, a programme focused on conspiracy theories and the occult on Spanish TV channel Cuatro. In his appearances, he has explained various theories about UFOs, convinced of their existence. One of his theories says that the CIA used three different types of UFO with the aim of defending the USA from nuclear attack during the 1980s. He also appears regularly on RT Spanish, one of international channels of what was formerly Russia Today, a broadcaster frequently linked to the Russian government, and the Russian government controlled Sputnik.

Baños started appearing on TV after leaving active service for the reserves. He doesn't only speak about the paranormal, but also frequently defends pro-Russian theories. When it comes to Russian president Vladimir Putin, he emphasises his great leadership strength, both internally and internationally. He has also defended the Russian government's support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. In the same vein, he also criticised Western media when they reported that the Syrian government had massacred civilians during the battle of Aleppo.

To express these opinions, the colonel frequently turns to Twitter, where he has published remarks like: "As a soldier of a country in NATO, I cannot express an opinion. But I do believe that Europe has lost an opportunity with Russia".

Baños has collected his ideas together in a book called Así se domina el mundo : desvelando las claves del poder mundial (in English, "How They Rule the World: The Secret Strategies of World Power", to be published next year). The book is already headed for its seventh edition in less than a year.

Baños, an infantry colonel in the Spanish army, graduated from the military academy in 1985. His first important role came in 2001, as head of counter-intelligence and security for the European Armed Forces. He's a specialist in strategy, geopolitics, intelligence, terrorism, international relations, defence and security.

Translation: El Nacional

June 9: Clara Ponsati, to ANC London seminar: "We have to put our political forces against the ropes and unmask party factionalism, the great weakness that led us to defeat." On the tactics of the Puigdemont government leading up to the October 1 referendum: "We were playing poker and bluffing."

June 9: Demonstration of 1000 in support of the mayor of Verges (Baix Empordá), presently being investigated for possible "hate crime" for having insinuated that car tyre slashings at the time of the October 1 referendum could have been the work of off-duty members of the Spanish National Police or Civil Guard.

June 9: Former Catalan education minister Clara Ponsati receives standing ovation at Scottish National Party congress.

June 9: This clip on Catalan political prisoners released by Anonymous Catalonia.

Let's make this video viral pic.twitter.com/iX7M40JLVh

— Аnonymous Catalonia #FreeAssange (@anoncatalonia) 8 June 2018

June 9: Josep Lluís Trapero, former head of the Catalan police at the time of the August terrorist attacks and presently facing charges of "rebellion" and "sedition" at the hands of the National High Court, declines offer of new Catalan government to return as head of the force because of his legal situation.

Opinion (Vicent Partal, Vilaweb, June 8)

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez reciprocates Catalonia’s support with disturbing cabinet appointments

When you mix in Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and his obsessions, the constellation of names who will take a government seat next to PM Sánchez takes on a truly worrying dimension

Josep Borrell’s was one of the first cabinet appointments that we learnt about. When the news first came out, many thought it was a ghastly mistake, but likely the only one. However, when PM Pedro Sánchez unveiled the full list of his cabinet ministers, it became apparent that the new Spanish leader had put together the worst government we could have imagined, a genuinely shambolic mess.

The new deputy PM, Carmen Calvo, was the PSOE’s representative in the talks that led to imposing direct rule on Catalonia. And she bragged about it. The minister of the interior has been slammed for having allegedly sanctioned police torture while he was a judge. He was also appointed to Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary by no other than the Partido Popular. Then there is Teresa Ribera, the new minister for the environment, who authorised the Castor project (1).

While he was Spain’s ambassador to Morocco, new minister for agriculture Luís Planas had no qualms about paying homage to one of Franco’s most blood-thirsty bigwigs. Lastly, we have Spain’s new culture minister, Màxim Huerta, who is better known for his appearances on TV chat shows and controversial Twitter posts on political issues than for his undeniable value as a writer. When you mix in Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and his obsessions, the constellation of names who will take a government seat next to PM Sánchez takes on a truly worrying dimension.

The main reason is that, indeed, Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet choices indicate that he has totally given up on the idea of changing the PP’s key policies. Likewise, the new prime minister’s choices show that the socialist party has failed to understand that the support of Catalonia’s pro-independence parties and Podemos to Sánchez’s vote of no-confidence against Mariano Rajoy was not an endorsement of the socialist party, but a vote against Rajoy.

Given the current state of affairs, Sánchez’s obvious support for the crackdown [on Catalonia] and the adoption of exceptional measures is particularly serious. Minister Carmen Calvo can’t but support direct rule. Likewise, it is outright disturbing that the job of minister of the interior should go to a judge from Madrid’s Audiencia Nacional —a court whose reputation is in tatters— who has been singled out by the European Court of Human Rights in most cases where Spain has been found guilty. Not even the PP had the nerve to ever try something like that.

When Pedro Sánchez was elected prime minister, Podemos’ MPs showed their enthusiasm by chanting “Yes, we can!” while Catalonia’s pro-independence lawmakers rushed to congratulate the new Spanish leader, the man who had garnered their support in exchange for nothing. At the time they still didn’t know that Sánchez would put together a government devised primarily to oppose them and everything they represent. I hope that today, once they have seen the list of appointees, they will harbour no doubts as to the consequences of their freebie and they will waste no time to start thinking about how it can be averted.

________
Translator’s notes:

(1) The controversial Castor project involved storing gas under the sea off Spain’s Mediterranean coast. It was scrapped only after the works caused many small earthquakes in the adjacent region.

Translation: Vilaweb

June 8: PP demands that PSOE explain its "deal with the secessionists and ETA-supporters" in the Spanish congress.

June 8: Citizens accuses Sánchez government of "paying the price of its deal with the separatists" with the lifting of day-to-day financial controls on the Catalan government, when this is the automatic result of the end of the article 155 intervention on the formation of the new Catalan government.

June 8: Isabel Celaá (spokesperson for PSOE government, replying to former Catalan president Puigdemont): "Talking about the right to self-determination is absolutely out of the question."

June 8: Isabel Celaá (spokesperson for PSOE government): "With the Constitution in one hand and dialogue in the other we shall try to modernise Spain."

June 8: Miquel Iceta (PSC): "Arrimades's reasons for refusing to meet with Taorra are inadequate."

June 8: Torra repeats his willingness to meet with Citizens' leader Inés Arrimades. She demands of him "institutional neutrality".

June 8: Torra replies to accusations of Podemos organisational secretary Pablo Echenique, who accused him of racism: "Dear Mr Echenique, I would like to have the opportunity to explain to you who I am and what I think because I believe that Catalonia is, luckily, a country of welcome and, as [imprisoned Òmnium Cultural president Jordi] Cuixart says, one of shared struggles."

June 8: Puigdemont condemns yesterday's boycott by university students of the SCC event on Cervantes at the University of Barcelona.

June 8: Puigdemont says on radio RAC1 that Unidos Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias rang him to explain developments in the PSOE's motion of no-confidence.

June 8:  Puigdemont demands that Spain recognise right to self-determination, as obliged under article 10.2 of the Constitution given that it is a signatory to the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Opinion (Jordi Barbeta, El Nacional, June 7)

From Rajoy to Sánchez: the Spanish establishment's operation

Ana Patricia Botín, the president of Banc Santander and point of reference for the Ibex 35 stock index, has celebrated the nomination of Nadia Calviño as the new Spanish economy minister. She says that she's "a guarantee". Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who two years ago prevented Pedro Sánchez from forming a government with the same support he has achieved now, has also showered the new executive with praise. Rubalcaba is above all a "servant of the state". He belongs to a theoretically republican party, but was the author of the substitution at the head of the state at the right moment to save the monarchy. Rubalcaba is on the editorial council of Spanish newspaper El País, which has become the means of expression of the Spanish "deep state". On 1st June, that newspaper's editorial was called "An inviable government" and now, six days later, with another editor-in-chief, in this case, a woman, their editorial is called "A good cabinet". A week ago, Spain was a country in democratic decline and now, all of a sudden, it seems everything has burst out in colour although, as we've seen, Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras remains in Estremera prison, mopping up. What has happened exactly?

Spain's image in Europe had been profoundly corroded. International media was presenting Mariano Rajoy as the head of a corrupt, incompetent and authoritarian government which was incapable of solving the crisis with Catalonia. And which was creating problems in Europe by forcing the exile of democratic politicians who European courts weren't willing to extradite. Change was a certainty. Pedro Sánchez has put himself in the right place at the right time... when the state needed him.

Mariano Rajoy has decided to abandon politics, but didn't resign as prime minister because the question wasn't to ensure the continuation of the PP government, but to save the state. Rajoy's resignation would have dragged out the political instability indefinitely and wouldn't have offered Europe the change of image which Pedro Sánchez has achieved.

Spain has gone from having the most unpleasant government on the planet to being governed by a cabinet with a female majority, with an admired astronaut and a frivolous journalist. It seems straight from some happy kids TV show, but Sánchez has chosen his cast with intention.

Josep Borrell, with the foreign affairs brief, as a Catalan, is the man entrusted with denying to the world the existence of a democratic Catalan cause. More significant still, however, is the inclusion of Fernando Grande-Marlaska at Interior, which guarantees the continuation of the repressive criteria of the previous government and increases the calm of those from the PP accused of corruption. Grande-Marlaska has been a judge always promoted by the right who had no problem filing the scandalous case of the 2003 Yak-42 airplane crash or deciding that the Foreigner Internment Centres "don't violate basic rights" (link in Spanish). And his nomination is as significant as the "non-nomination" of Margarita Robles, who actually is a lawyer experienced in conflict management and who has been relegated to Defence, a fictitious ministry where all the decisions are technical and determined by NATO and the soldiers. They've embellished the nomination with control of the CNI, when everyone know that the secret service in the end reports to the prime minister.

There's another interesting detail with the new Spanish cabinet: the Andalusian component. With Carmen Calvo as vice-president, María Jesús Montero at the Treasury and Luis Planas at Agriculture, it's guaranteed that, if a new system of funding of the autonomous communities which could calm Catalan pro-independence claims does come to be negotiated, in no case will it be to the detriment of the so-called "solidarity flow" from the north to the south. The president of Andalusia herself, Susana Díaz, has already said that "Montero and Planas are a guarantee for Andalusia", which is a way of saying "we're in charge". The inclusion of the Catalan Meritxell Batet at Territorial Policy will be sold as Pedro Sánchez punting for dialogue with Catalonia, but it's a way of limiting negotiations to a matter of statutory competencies which interests no one.

Certainly, now it's not people nostalgic for Franco who are governing Spain. The European perception of Spain and the Spanish government won't be the same, but judge Llarena will continue to do what he does and peaceful and democratic political leaders will remain in prison or in exile accused of crimes they didn't commit. It all reminds of that maxim from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change". And it will be substantially more difficult to explain that Catalonia is a victim of a repressive state. Who's to say that we're not seeing a cosmetic, successful state operation?

Translation: El Nacional

June 7: After meeting with leaders of the two main trade union confederations, new Catalan social affairs minister Chakir el Homrani says that his priority is to implement the guaranteed minimium income held up under article 155.

June 7: Students at University of Barcelona protest against Catalan Civil Society (SCC) event on Cervantes on campus. SCC cancels event.

June 7: Mooted changes to laws covering elections to European Parliament would leave ERC, PDeCAT, PNV and Bildu without representation.

June 7: New Catalan government begins to re-employ senior civil servants sacked under article 155.

June 7: New Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell: "Times are difficult. Spain is facing the biggest problem a country can have, that of its territorial integrity."

June 7: Citizens´leader Inés Arrimades says she will not meet with president Torra while banner in support of political prisoners remains hanging from central government building.

June 7: European MPs demand of new Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska that they be able to visit political prisoners (previously blocked by Rajoy government).

June 7: Constitutional Court rejects appeal by Puigdemont against its prohibition of his standing for president.

Comment (Toni Soler, Ara, June 6)

A crack in the wall

Video footage breaks the invisibility forced upon Catalan  political leaders under unfair punishment

The footage showing Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn and other political prisoners in Spain’s Estremera jail is a tremendously valuable piece of reporting. Even if the images are painful to watch for their families and friends, there is a silver lining in that they can help us all to understand what we mean when we talk about Catalonia’s abnormal political situation. Watching grown men who are educated, decent and honest, people who have held high office, now deprived of their freedom, taken away from their families and forced to spend up to sixteen hours a day in their cells is something that leaves an unforgettable impression. And that is precisely what we need: we mustn’t forget the daily lives of these men and women whose freedom has been taken away.

It is all the more difficult to stomach when we consider that this punishment is preemptive, has been going on for months and the judicial enquiry has been shambolic. But we cannot just refer to them in humanitarian terms. Whether you like it or not, it is very relevant that the accused are former government officials, independence supporters, accessories to the self-determination referendum of October 1 and everything that stems from that. Therefore, they are political prisoners and they have not been released yet because the Spanish justice believes that they have not shown enough explicit regret for their political views; this mindset is inadmissible in a democracy and the last elections on December 21 rejected it unequivocally.

Being held in pre-trial custody combines several punishments in one. Firstly, you lose your freedom, which is a basic right. But there is also the uncertainty of not knowing when the nightmare will end, being far from family and friends (an act of cruelty, courtesy of Spanish justice), the daily grind which can easily lead to despair and hopelessness in people who were used to having extremely busy days filled with intellectually stimulating experiences. And last, but not least, there is the invisibility, which is the opposite of public shaming. For a criminal being exposed to public shame is an additional humiliation. For a political prisoner, in contrast, the greatest risk to be dead as far as media and society are concerned. Catalonia’s prisoners were in the spotlight when they were jailed. People paid tribute to them in one of the largest demonstrations of the last decade. They are still remembered in hundreds of Catalan towns and villages by support groups who are tirelessly dedicated. But, truth be told, Junqueras, Forn, Turull, Forcadell, Romeva, Bassa, Rull, Sànchez and Cuixart have no access to cameras and microphones. They are voiceless and their faces have been fading away from media, replaced by the yellow ribbons that Ciudadanos leader Inés Arrimadas finds so polluting.

An additional punishment

The prisoners cannot voice their views or exercise their political responsibilities unless it is by proxy. This is a further punishment which Catalan exiles haven’t experienced. Carles Puigdemont and his associates have the right to speak in public and they exercise it at length. They remain personally present in the political debate. And that is a good thing. It is good for them and good for their cause.

A few weeks ago someone asked me how come we no longer poked fun at Junqueras on Polònia [the humorous political satire show on Catalonia’s public broadcaster]. The question has two answers, one technical, the other emotional. On a technical level, every parody needs a reference in current events and Junqueras’ face no longer features on the news. Emotionally, the team that puts together the show cannot muster the courage to make fun —often rather shamelessly— of characters who are in jail for political reasons and cannot watch our programme. Besides, viewers themselves would be put off. “Sure, but by doing that you make them increasingly invisible” came the answer. And that is true, but for a comedy programme in this case there is no good course of action.

Either way, there is no doubt that the footage which ARA obtained is a crack in the prison walls, a first victory against the invisibility forced upon political leaders who are experiencing an unfair punishment. It is gratifying to see them sharing their knowledge with other inmates, writing, keeping each other company and joining in the shared chores modestly but with all their greatness. Now we know a little more about their reality and how urgent it is for the new Spanish government to put an end to this democratic shame. Let’s hope that this extremely valuable footage contributes to that. Free the political prisoners!

Translation: Ara

June 6: Jordi Graupera, originator of the idea for a single pro-independence candidate preselected by primaries in Barcelona, says he has the support of president Torra.

June 6: PSC in Badalona tries to convince governing left forces in the city to drop Dolors Sabater as mayoress in order to avoid it doing deal with PP and Citizens to remove her.

June 6: PP attempt to deprive Carles Puigdemont of privileges of a former president fails in Catalan parliament, with votes against of JxCat, ERC and the CUP.

June 6: Spanish Constitutional Court agrees to hear appeals of jailed Catalan leaders against their imprisonment.

June 6: Extreme right party Vox announces law suit against head of the Catalan police Ferran López and six other senior commanders for "rebellion", "sedition" and "disobedience".

June 6: President Torra tells Catalan parliament that he will ask Spanish prime minister Sánchez his views on the right to self-determination and about the 16 Catalan laws presently held up in the Constitutional Court by Rajoy government appeals.

June 6: Eduard Pujol (JxCat) in the Catalan parliament: "Mrs Arrimades,you want to eliminate yellow ribbons? Then eliminate the shame of exile and prison."

News (El Nacional, June 5)

Belgian court summonses Spanish referendum judge for September 4

The judge leading the investigation into the Catalan independence process against the then government and Parliament, Pablo Llarena, has been summonsed by a Belgian court for 4th September. He is to testify as a suspect in a civil lawsuit announced today in a press conference by the members of the government in exile in Belgium. Toni Comín, accompanied by fellow ministers Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig, said that "so far our defence had been strictly focused on avoiding extradition, but under advice from our lawyers, we believe more robust legal actions are needed".

The lawsuit was filed some weeks ago, but the summons wasn't announced publicly before the lawsuit was accepted for consideration.

The Catalan government in exile, which also includes Clara Ponsatí and president Carles Puigdemont, alleges that "the judge hasn't limited himself to writing a series of positions which we consider to lay bare that we're being persecuted for our political ideas, but he's also done so outside of his jurisdictional action, outside of the courts in which he expresses these prejudices which show that we're being persecuted for our ideas". This is referring to comments the judge made at a conference in Oviedo, Asturias.

Following this lawsuit, the ministers have also presented Spain's Supreme Court with an application for the judge's recusal from the case, arguing that the Spanish Penal Code "unequivocally" states that judge having a case pending that relates to some part of an investigation they are leading is a motive for their recusal.

Supreme Court sources, however, say they are still unaware of either the summons from Belgium or the recusal application.

The judge can decide not to travel to Belgium to testify and delegate his representation to a lawyer.

Translation: El Nacional

June 5: Inés Arrimades (Citizens) rejects new Statute for Catalonia.

June 5: Constitutional Court rejects Jordi Sànchez's appeal against Supreme Court judge Llarena's ruling preventing him from being invested as Catalan president.

June 5: Arran, left independentist youth organisation affiliated to the CUP, calls on pro-independence forces to surround TV3 in order to defend it from the far right on June 10.

June 5: Former Catalan minister Comín, Puig and Serret and former president Puigdemont announce that they will take a legal suit in Belgium against Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena for his "lack of impartiality".

June 5: Civil Guard report claims Puigdemont government diverted €3.26 million to fund the October 1 referendum.

June 5: Jose Luis Ábalos (PSOE organisational secretary): "Meeting Torra is not a matter of urgency."

Comment (Iolanda Fresnillo, Critic, May 18)

Five challenges the pro-independence left will have to confront, now that we have a government

With the investiture of Quim Torra as the 131^st president of the Generalitat, Catalonia’s government, a new phase of the process has begun. Not the final or definitive one, simply a new phase. A phase full of uncertainties and glitches that are impossible to foresee — not just how the legislature will act and for how long, but also what will happen next week. The legal prosecutions still under way (and those that will probably ensue) and the likely sentencing of the political prisoners to jail terms; the constant threat of a new 155 and the expected prohibition by the Constitutional Court of such proposals as the initiation of the Constituent Process or the recovery of suspended laws; the foreseeable tension between the CUP and the Government within the pro-independence bloc, given the evident ideological distance between the president and the CUPistas; the influence, or the interference, that the Council of the Republic or President Puigdemont may exercise over Torra and the Generalitat government… these are some of the obstacles that will have to be overcome if the new president is not to be derailed.

Some of the challenges we confront in this new phase are of special relevance to the lefts that we have looked to during the sovereigntist process as offering the possibility of radical transformation, emancipation and popular empowerment. The first of those challenges will no doubt be to provide ourselves with spaces in which to construct future strategies that allow us to make reality what now appears as simply a “mantra”: to make a Republic. Right now, thinking of challenges, I will identify five that are, in my opinion, central.

1. Tackle the exceptional nature of the repression

Without a doubt, one of the central issues is how we tackle the climate of repression and deprivation of rights and freedoms that the Spanish state has imposed. The strategy of threats and fears deployed by the Spanish government means it has to make those threats effective and — independently of what the Criminal Code says — keep the political prisoners in prison. We will have to develop strategies gauged to the needs of the prisoners, those in exile and those under siege from the Spanish judicial authorities for having defended the Republic in the streets. The message in the hundreds of thousands of letters and visits and other demonstrations of support must be loud and clear: We have not forgotten you.

Jesús Rodríguez said a few days ago in Crític that October 1 has meant a transformation in the values and mentality of many Catalans, in that the experience of recent months has already helped to build “a society that is more critical, more willing to take risks, more open to new forms of understanding the economy and social relations.” This increased predisposition to risk will encounter a foreseeable rise in the incessant repression deployed by the Spanish state and accordingly a growing number of reprisals. Being attentive to this means building spaces and collective strategies to confront that repression, but also spaces that will help us maintain the predisposition to risk, and not to become entangled in the web of fear. It is only through collective action that we can avert the Spanish state’s attempt to paralyze this process of social empowerment. Thus it will be essential to protect spaces like the CDRs that cultivate this collectivity.

And finally, to confront the repression not only through the necessary solidarity actions but also through the construction of strategies of social disapproval. In this respect, to find a way around the lack of demonstrations of solidarity and indignation by a part of the Spanish, European and international left. The left, traditionally internationalist, will have to redouble efforts to explain to the outside world what is happening in Catalonia.

2. Build an inclusive Republic

Half a year ago we met with a group of left-wing activists from various political spaces and social movements with a proposal to promote the Republic from below and in a form that was not subordinate to the institutional agendas. We issued an appeal to meet, think about and organize ourselves around the theme “Contra la foscor, la llum: el millor del nou i el poder popular. Aixequem la República!” [“Against the darkness, light: the best of the new and the popular power. Stand up for the Republic!”] In this initial meeting, which took place on December 1, 2017, we stated: “The Republic we want is inclusive, democratic, egalitarian, feminist, antiracist and puts a dignified life for all at the center of any politics.”

The proposal of inclusive sovereigntism necessarily clashes frontally with identitarian nationalisms. Against the controversial tweets and articles of President Quim Torra, far from downplaying his words (which we view very seriously) we must reaffirm ourselves in the words that would have to accompany this construction of an inclusive Republic. Not to convince (being inclusive in order to broaden the bases of sovereignty), but because it is correct. Because, if it is not with everyone and for everyone — weaving, not unravelling — it is not our Republic.

An inclusive Republic is at the antipodes of a racist society that undervalues the 15% of the population composed of migrant individuals who, in today’s Catalonia (in the Spanish state and in the European Union) find their rights as citizens denied. An inclusive Republic cannot be built around an essentialist proposal of Catalan identity; instead, it must celebrate our diversity. Nor can it be a

“neoliberal Republic at the service of the new and old elites, or a new country with the old classes, injustices and privileges as usual. It cannot continue to be subordinate to the interests of capital, super-state structures and actors not chosen democratically and holding decisive powers over our lives. Nor can we allow ourselves to perpetuate a society in connivance with predatory exploitation of the territory, racism and male chauvinism,”

as we stated in the opening ceremony of Aixequem la República.

In this sense, as the independentist lefts, both within and without the Parliament, we have to develop a frontal opposition to the neoliberal policies that the new Catalan government may be tempted to implement, and to any attempt to impose an identitarian Catalanism. And we will have to build strategies that make no concession to the blackmail of those who will doubtless, faced with this opposition, put in question our commitment to the republican project.

3. The temptation of the municipal elections

No one can tell whether the new Government will still be intact by May of next year. But in any case the election date of May 2019, which applies to the municipal and European elections (and to the Balearic Islands, Valencia and other autonomous communities throughout the state), can become an important turning point.

The new municipalism that exploded with the May 2015 elections has highlighted the potential to build emancipatory realities and transformative processes from the local level. The experiences in the city councils led by new forces and left political coalitions in cities like Barcelona, Badalona or Sabadell, but also in smaller cities and towns, are showing us that at the local level it is possible to deploy quite strong strategies of social transformation. And even in some municipalities where the right governs, civil society and the leftist opposition find it easier to initiate transformative initiatives like municipal ownership of services, experiences of direct democracy, or policies of transparency (public hearings). These are processes of transformation and construction of spaces of popular sovereignty that follow rhythms and routes that differ from those in the country’s sovereigntist process. I think we have to maintain those different rhythms and routes.

For some time now we have seen how there is a desire among various pro-sovereignty political forces to put the independentist process at the center of the pre-campaigning for the next municipal elections. Proposals like those of Jordi Graupera to present an independentist candidacy for the Barcelona city council have and no doubt will continue to have their reflection in other municipalities. Personally, I think it is a strategic error to try to confine the transformative potential of municipalism within the independentist proposal.

The left must be conscious that the process of building a new country, an inclusive Republic, is a long process that involves a change in hegemonies, as well as transformations in the “macro” but also in the “micro.” Municipalism is a fertile terrain for those transformations, for the construction of sovereignties, that can be the basis for the construction of Sovereignty as a country. Food sovereignties, energy sovereignties, residential sovereignties, health sovereignties, cultural sovereignties, productive sovereignties, reproductive sovereignties, etc. that can develop in the municipal environment without awaiting the winning of full Sovereignty nationally. So I do not share the hypothesis of some that without an effective Catalan Republic there can be no advance in transformation at the level of municipal government. There is some latitude, and I think that making the exploitation of that latitude await the unlikely achievement of the Republic in the short term is a strategic error.

We have to promote the idea that municipal action is the basis on which to build a new model relationship with the territory and between the territories. And for that we must leave some room for this construction of sovereignties to break independently from the path, rhythm and road map taken by the national process. A strategy that is favourable to the view that sovereignties can emerge as well in municipal governments that are not pro-independence. It seems obvious to me that the coalition between the Commons, ERC and the CUP in cities like Barcelona can generate spaces of transformation that are much stronger than an independentist coalition with the PdeCat. Putting independentism at the center of the next municipal elections would radically break with this transformative potential.

4. Guarantee the Constituent Process

Quim Torra emphasized in his investiture speeches the proposal to move ahead with a Constituent Process that culminates in the drafting of a new Catalan constitution. In this respect, Carles Riera has warned that “a Constituent Process cannot be a workshop for bumper stickers.” How the Constituent Process develops and what it will end up being will have to be one of the lefts’ concerns, not only in the institutions (and this is not simply a concern of the CUP) but also in the social movements, including those that do not share the preference for independence. The potential for a change of hegemonies through a Constituent Process should not be disdained by anyone who is fighting for a transformation and for social, political and economic justice.

From the standpoint of the social movements and left political forces we cannot spoil the possibility of carrying out a Constituent Process that actually allows us to debate everything, to change everything. In this sense, the new republican, self-organized reality that has appeared since October 1 around the CDRs and other spaces with a local base, should form part of the matrix of the Constituent Process. A process that we want to be led from below by the people, distributed throughout the territory, in a non-exclusive way with the democratic guarantee of equality for everyone. This means that the “lobbies” represented by academic experts cannot take precedence over citizenship. And that no one can be excluded from citizenship. Immigrants (with or without papers) have to able to be part of the process, with voice and vote. Adults but also young people and children. No one can be excluded because of his or her origin, culture, religion, age, gender or political alignment. If we want to make a country for everyone, we have to look to everyone to make it.

The Constituent Process will no doubt also be the focus of the state’s repressive violence. Faced with this obvious risk, the self-organized people will be predisposed to defend the process, as we defended the ballot boxes on October 1. It is more than a defense of the institutional process as proposed by the Government or Parliament. We will have to be prepared to defend the underlying process, which enables us to advance in the construction of new material aspects, those that make the Republic possible. And we have to be conscious that for a process with these characteristics the worst partners are the over-hasty. We are looking to the future with broadmindedness and we are dealing with a Constituent Process with guarantees, which is another way of saying that we must take the necessary time.

5. Making the Republic without undue haste

For many of us, the Republic is not simply a legal form, the constitution of new borders. The Republic is not built law by law, but by making a reality of republican spaces and materialities. The Republic is not a state but a process of transformation that results in a new, and better, country. A long process that, once again, needs time in which to build the Republic carefully, for ourselves and for the territory. To form a WE that includes the convinced, but also those who are not, takes time. To deploy and reaffirm sovereignties takes time. To construct not only a new country but a better country in which full sovereignty is exercised, from below, takes a lot of time.

Let us give ourselves that time, with strategies that are far-sighted and with infinite patience, so that the process of building the Republic can effectively put life, care and social justice at the center. This is the biggest challenge we confront on the left if we do not want to deny the fact that making the Republic means generating a genuinely emancipative process and that the results will be a country of social justice. The overhasty may be able to ensure that the new country arrives earlier (although there is no guarantee of that), but it will not be the country that we want. Let us give ourselves not only enough space but also time to meet, think, organize and build — together — the Republic.

Spanish translation from Catalan: Àngels Varó Peral
English translation from Spanish: Richard Fidler

This article was first published in Catalan in the on-line publication Critic, from its section "Sentit Critic, opinió I anàlisi". English translation based on the Spanish translation published in Viento Sur.

June 4: Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez appoints Catalan unionist and Catalan Civil Society activist Josep Borrell as his minister of foreign affairs.

June 4: Poster for demonstration of 16 far-right organisations against Catalan public TV's Channel 3 (below)

"Enough with stirring up hatred. CLOSE DOWN CHANNEL 3. Spain Unites Us!!!"

June 4: José Manuel Villegas, Citizens' secretary-general, demands that the Sánchez government maintain the article 155 intervention in Catalonia.

June 4: Badalona mayoress Dolors Sabater calls on PSC not to accept votes of PP and Citizens in order to overturn her administration.

June 4: President Torra visits jailed Catalan leaders Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull.

June 4: Pere Aragonès alongside poster of jailed former vice-president Oriol Junqueras (below, with counter of days in prison on top).

June 4: Pere Aragonès (vice-president): "The Sánchez government should instruct the prosecutor-general's office to drop the charges against the Catalan leaders."

Week ending June 3

News (El Nacional, June 3)

Extremist Vox party arrives in Barcelona to dispute the unionist vote with Citizens

Spanish extreme right-wing party Vox has presented itself in Barcelona with the intention of campaigning in the municipal elections of 2019 and competing with Ciudadanos for the unionist vote. With shouts of "Put Puigdemont in prison", "Long live the Civil Guard" and "Spain, united, will never be defeated", about 1,500 people attended the conference "The Spain that has to come", held on Sunday in the Hotel Barceló Sants. According to the organizers, it was the biggest event they had ever held. 

The Vox party leaders asserted that in Catalonia people have gone "from the thief Pujol to the coup-plotter Puigdemont" and that Catalan schools "inject" children with "the virus of nationalism".

Party president Santiago Abascal said that his party is a victim of a campaign attempting to label them as "fascists, xenophobes and male chauvinists". Abascal called for a united Spain that would give up "the state of autonomous regions"; aware that "this is very difficult", he suggested that it was necessary for "essential competences" to be restored. "We haven't come here to ask for people's pardon, we've come to ask for explanations from those that led Spain to ruin". 

The secretary general of Vox, Javier Ortega, went through all the private legal accusations that the party has presented against the leaders of the Catalan independence process and highlighted the “courage” and “firmness” of the actions of the late Spanish State Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, whose signature is on the complaints for rebellion and sedition against Carles Puigdemont, and also praised Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, who is conducting the cases against the political prisoners and exiled ministers. He said that these two did not give in to “pressure” from anybody, even from the Partido Popular-led government. 

Ortega criticized the role of European justice, especially that of Belgium and Germany. “This Europe which says it is a friend of Spain's has abandoned us just at the moment when we need it most”, he said. The secretary general added that the Belgian and German courts “have stamped on” the purpose for the European Arrest Warrants' existence, and accused those countries of sheltering people who will be “the seed of the disunity of Europe”. He ended with a shout of “Long live Catalonia, long live the king and long live the undeniable unity of Spain”.

Translation: El Nacional

June 3: Ernest Maragall, new Catalan minister for foreign affairs: "The presence of Catalonia in the world will increase."

June 3: (The Guardian) Catalan leader calls for end to the 'indisputable unity' of Spain.

Backgrounder (Vilaweb/Catalan News Agency, June 2)

Seven long months of Spanish direct rule in Catalonia are over

Guide to the impact of the measures imposed to Catalonia since October 2017 by the ousted Spanish government

One of Mariano Rajoy’s last actions as Spanish president before being ousted from office by a no-confidence motion was to approve Catalan president Quim Torra’s cabinet nominations. More than five months after the pro-independence bloc held on to its parliamentary majority in the December 21 election, during which every attempt to form a government was blocked by the Spanish authorities, Catalonia finally has a new executive. The most pressing consequence of this is the return to self-governance and the lifting of direct rule from Madrid.

Direct rule was imposed after a declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament on October 27. The mechanism used to suspend self-government was a section of the Spanish Constitution known as Article 155. In the run-up to the October 1 referendum on independence, the Rajoy government repeatedly threatened to trigger the “nuclear option” as the article became known. With independence declared, Rajoy was as good as his word and for the next seven months Catalonia’s affairs were run from Madrid.

When Torra took office as Catalan president he announced that one of his first acts in the post would be to set up an investigation into the effects of direct rule. In Catalonia, Article 155 has been seen as synonymous with the repression by the independence movement, and a main focus for protest, along with former Catalan government ministers being held in prison. But what shape is Catalonia in as direct rule is about to be lifted and the country attempts to once again stand on its own two feet under a new government?

In the seven months that direct rule lasted, the Rajoy government held 28 cabinet meetings, at which 249 measures for Catalonia were approved under the terms of Article 155. The Spanish executive focused mostly on day-to-day administrative matters and largely avoided any major political changes in running Catalonia’s affairs. However, some of the decisions taken by the government in Madrid proved highly unpopular in Catalonia, provoking widespread resentment and disapproval.

260 dismissed

Some 260 people lost their jobs while direct rule lasted, among them were high-ranking ministers and officials accused of collaborating with the secessionist push. Apart from the dismissal of the entire Catalan government, among some of the more prominent dismissals were the director general of foreign affairs, Marina Borrell, the Permanent Delegate of the Catalan Government to the EU, Amadeu Altafaj, the head of the Public Administration School, Agustí Colomines, and the head of the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia, Annabel Marcos. Catalan police chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, who attained hero status in Catalonia for his handling of the Barcelona terror attacks, was also removed from his post.

Closure of institutions

The government in Madrid wasted no time in closing down the Catalan government’s network of foreign offices, except for the one in Brussels. In the years leading up to the political crisis, the government had opened a number of delegations around the world to represent Catalonia’s interests in countries such as the US, Germany and the UK. Yet, Madrid repeatedly insisted that diplomatic representation was a power reserved for the Spanish government. The Public  Diplomacy Council, which promoted Catalonia abroad, was also closed down.

Cancellation of projects

Numerous projects in many areas were also cancelled or put on hold during the months of direct rule. Some examples are the program to relocate refugees in Catalonia, the 2016-2019 welfare benefit program between the Catalan government and the Barcelona city council, worth some 52 million euros. A program to secure 235,000 flats for social housing was also put on hold, as were programs to help the LGBTI and under age sectors.

Forceful removal of works of art

One effect of direct rule that made a profound impression came in December, when a Spanish judge ordered the forceful removal of disputed works of art from Lleida Museum. Originally from the Sixena monastery, experts’ warnings about the potential damage to the Romanesque treasures were ignored as police accompanied the artworks back to Aragon. This was after a long-disputed conflict between the administrations in Catalonia and Aragon. The Catalan authorities had judicially fighted for the works to stay in the country for years, but with its government under Madrid control, no further legal dispute was carried out from Barcelona.

Working language in schools

A hugely controversial effect of Article 155 was the threat posed to Catalan as the working language in schools in Catalonia. The Spanish government revealed plans to offer parents an option on school enrolment forms that would ensure their children would receive 25% of their schooling in Spanish. After a widespread outcry, the plans were dropped.

Centralizing taxation plans on hold

In taking control of all of the Catalan government accounts, Madrid’s direct rule also cancelled the agreements to centralize taxation issues in Catalonia, while funding for various Catalan government projects were put on hold, such as the reform of legislation governing savings banks in Catalonia, or the chambers of commerce law.

Police prevented from new anti-terror measures

The Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, complain that direct rule has prevented the adoption of new anti-terror measures, while the force no longer has access to reserve funds used to finance anti-jihadi operations. The Mossos also say that a detailed list of all imams in Catalonia has not been provided as was promised.

Historical memory project halted

Reports by Servidors.cat association of public servants and the Ombudsman have condemned the suspension of payments to fund compensation owed to former political prisoners of the Franco regime. At the same time, the Catalan government’s project to open mass graves from the period has been cancelled.

Freezing of plan for park rangers

Direct rule has also seen the freezing of the strategic plan for park rangers, which includes a new regulation allowing them to carry weapons. This initiative was a consequence of the Aspa case, in which a hunter shot two park rangers dead.

Translation: Vilaweb/Catalan News Agency

June 2: Article 155 supervision finished, new Catalan government hangs this banner from the central government building in Barcelona (below).

June 2: Citizens boycotts investiture of new Catalan government: "They only want to govern for those who wear the yellow ribbon" (leader Inés Arrimades)

News (Vilaweb, June 2)

Catalan government takes office lifting Spanish direct rule

Catalonia has a new executive again, 7 months after self-government suspension

Direct rule in Catalonia is history after 219 days in force. This, as an automatic result of the new Catalan government’s inauguration taking place this Saturday morning. On October 27, the now ousted Spanish government implemented suspension of self-rule following the declaration of independence.

After some leaders being sent in prison, others in exile, a Catalan election and five months until a president was appointed, this Saturday a new term starts in Catalonia. But the exceptional circumstances were clear on Saturday with the symbolism in the inauguration, including a yellow ribbon set in the first row of the audience. Yellow has become the color to show solidarity with the leaders in jail and abroad.

But the symbolism and remembrance of the leaders in jail and abroad went further during the event, which was highly emotional. Relatives of some of those leaders read some letters addressed to the Catalan president, including the four ministers who were prevented from being reinstated in May. Some of these relatives were in tears during the event, as some of the newly elected ministers and audience.

Messages from officials in jail and abroad

“Road for an independent Catalonia is a noble, legitimate, democratic, peaceful cause. No prison or unfair judicial case will make me give up” said jailed and deposed Presidency minister Jordi Turull through his wife.

In a letter read by his sister, ousted Health head Toni Comín said from Brussels that he knew the Puigdemont cabinet could be subject to Spain’s repression. “When appointed, I had the feeling that that would not be just another government, as it had the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent state.”

“We’ve been imprisoned for having defended legitimate ideas, for having respected the people’s mandate,” says jailed and deposed Territory minister Josep Rull through his wife.

“Restitution spirit has triumphed,” read Lluís Puig’s daughter. The deposed Culture minister is has been in Brussels for 7 months.

“I ask you to not forget us, I ask you to continue asking for our freedom,” said in a letter former Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell from prison, through her husband.

Torra pledges “construction of independent Republic”

President Torra also made some remarks to the audience. “We assume the commitment to move forward towards the construction of an independent Republic” he said. Torra also claimed that cabinet will prioritize the road to independence, dialogue with Spain, restore laws suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court, and social and economic progress.

Torra’s speech came after the Catalan cabinet members took their oaths, which officially meant the lift of direct rule in the country.

Who are the new ministers?

The new government which took office this Saturday is formed of 13 ministers, including 6 women, making it the most egalitarian ever. Here’s the list of cabinet members who inaugurate this Saturday:

VICE PRESIDENCY AND ECONOMY: Pere Aragonès, the new Oriol Junqueras

PRESIDENCY AND SPOKESPERSON: Elsa Artadi, one of Puigdemont’s closest allies

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Ernest Maragall, former MEP takes Foreign Affairs

HOME AFFAIRS: Miquel Buch, new Home Affairs minister

EDUCATION: Josep Bargalló, back to Education after 15 years

HEALTH: Alba Vergés, Parliament speakership panel member

TERRITORY AND SUSTAINABILITY: Damià Calvet, big challenges in infraestructures ahead

CULTURE: Laura Borràs, former Institute of Catalan Letters president

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Ester Capella, a feminist lawyer to head Justice

LABOUR & SOCIAL AFFAIRS: Chakir El Homrani, a union leader

BUSINESS: Àngels Chacón, expert in international trade

GOVERNANCE AND DIGITAL POLICY: Jordi Puigneró, new minister of Governance and Digital Policy

AGRICULTURE: Teresa Jordà, from the Spanish Congress to the ministry of Agriculture

Translation: Vilaweb, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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June 1: Rajoy government falls to PSOE no-confidence motion (180-169 with one abstention).

June 1: Carles Riera (CUP) to Torra: "Do not commit the betrayal of negotiating a new Statute,"

June 1: Catalan president Torra lodges complaint against Spanish prime minister Rajoy and his deputy Saenz de Santamaria for perverting the course of justice in not publishing names of Catalan ministers in jail and exile.

June 1: The council of Terrassa (Vallès Occidental), run by the PSC,adopts motion recognising the existence of political prisoners.

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Comment (Vicenç Villatoro, Ara, June 1)

Splitting up families

The more one uses the word ‘law’, the more outrageous it becomes when one breaks it

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, continues to use the word 'law' when referring to Catalonia: enforcing the law, the rule of law, equality before the law... The more one uses the word ‘law’, the more outrageous it becomes when one breaks it. Equality before the law? The majority of those found guilty in the Gürtel case, facing stiff sentences, may well avoid prison for the time being, in some cases by paying bail, on humanitarian grounds: they have either elderly parents or relatively young children –a thirty year-old in one instance!– and it’s never a good idea to split up families ...

This generous humanitarian treatment hasn’t been extended to Catalan political prisoners, often with much tougher family circumstances, far from their homes and having not even stood trial. When it comes to accounting for this sudden generosity, representatives of the media who could hardly be called ‘anti-system’, have speculated, without appearing overly preoccupied, that it might be due to the fact that Bárcenas has threatened to rat on the PP if his wife ends up in jail, or due to shady changes to the judges involved in the trial. Equality before the law? During the Franco era, there was a joke (which also had a rather cruder version) about how the justice system worked: “protect the loyal, punish the disloyal... and leave the law for the indifferent”.

Translation: Ara

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May 31: Catalan national anthem Els Segadors, sung at the Patum festival (below) in the presence of the relatives of the exiled and jailed Catalan leaders, here.

May 31: Sánchez (replying to Tardà): "There are no political prisoners in Spain."

May 31: Joan Tardà (lead ERC MP) in no-confidence motion debate: "Our Yes to Sánchez is a No to Rajoy".

May 31: Constitutional Court rules that only the autonomous communities' Statutes of Autonomy can limit powers of their regional parliaments, partially upholding a Catalan government appeal against a Spanish government overruling of a 2015 Catalan law on public administration.

May 31: This year's Patum festival, held in Berga (Berguedà) and listed as a World Cultural Heritage, has jailed Òmnium Cultural president Jordi Cuixart on its poster as expression of solidarity with jailed and exiled Catalan leaders.

May 31: Sánchez to Rajoy: "The country is paying the price of your suicidal strategy of confrontation between territories."

May 31: Rajoy to Sánchez in debate on no-confidence motion: "Will you support the right to self-determination as some parties are demanding? If you don't have that clear, we have a problem."

May 31: Business umbrella the Economy Circle proposes a new Catalan Statute of Autonomy, to be put to referendum in Catalonia.

May 31: The teachers and parents of El Palau high school present the resolution they wish the Catalan parliament to adopt against the charging of nine of their teachers for "hate crimes".

May 31: Debate on PSOE's motion of no-confidence in the Rajoy government begins.

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Opinion (Editorial, Ara, May 31)

Recovering self-government and starting a fresh chapter

Catalan president Quim Torra signed a new decree on Tuesday appointing his cabinet ministers. Excluded from this new list were the names vetoed by the Spanish government which —thanks to the powers granted by direct rule— decided that prisoners and exiles could not be part of Torra’s administration and refused make them official by blocking the publication of their appointments in Catalonia’s official gazette.

With the addition of Alba Vergés in the Health Ministry, Laura Borràs in Culture, Damià Calvet in Territory, and Àngels Chacón in Business, and the shift of Elsa Artadi to the Department of the Presidency, Torra overcame all the legal obstacles to forming a government, and forced the lifting of direct rule and the abusive intervention of Catalan self-government via Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. It is a necessary step and a show of responsibility by the president, who had already exposed the Spanish government and now will be able to continue the legal battle in court while the new Catalan administration takes over and sets in gear new governmental actions after five months of paralysis and usurpation.

The recovery of self-government is a widely shared desire in Catalan society, which had been living under the sine die continuation of Article 155, a situation that threatened basic pillars of our nation such, as the school system, the police force, and public media outlets. Now will be the moment to take stock of the disaster and to rebuild the damaged structures. But, above all, it will be the moment to put the focus back on self-government, to show in a practical sense that it is very different to be governed from Madrid than from Barcelona. From this point of view, this government must also be exceptional in its technical and political abilities, because it will have to face an enormous challenge. The classic saying of socialist leader Rafael Campalans, "politics is pedagogy", will take on a special meaning under these circumstances. The presence of six women cabinet members out of 14, after the mere three initially named, is good news in light of this.

The formation of an effective government comes just hours before a debate on a no-confidence vote begins in Madrid to bring down the government of Mariano Rajoy, a vote that could make socialist Pedro Sánchez the next Spanish PM. If this change becomes reality, a new political climate will be a possibility. President Torra ably played the calendar in the face of this possibility: if Sánchez is president, he will have no excuse not to receive the Catalan leader in the Moncloa and start a fresh chapter. Once again, it is necessary to prove to the world that the rejection of dialogue does not come from the Catalan side of the conflict. The ball will now be in Spain's court.

Finally, the time has come for Catalan politics to adapt to reality, occupy all possible seats of power, and take advantage of the opportunities offered by both the Spanish legal train wreck in Europe and the new scenario that could open up within Spain. Politics requires an awareness of one's own strengths as well as the weaknesses of one’s opponent. And overestimating one thing or underestimating the other are usually a mistake.

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May 30: Former French PM Manuel Valls distances himself from offer to be Citizens' lead candidate for mayor of Barcelona: "I love France above all else."

May 30:  Quim Torra, after meeting exiled ministers in Belgium: "The happiest day will be when we invest Carles Puigdemont as president."

May 30:  Quim Torra announces defamation action against former Spanish deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra (PSOE) for calling him a Nazi.

May 30:  Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, calls on Pedro Sánchez to withdraw a no-confidence motion that can only pass with the support of "the most Bolivarian left in Europe and populist secessionism."

May 30: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City trainer): "Nothing will be solved until the prisoners are back with their families".

May 30: Arnaldo Otegi (general coordinator, EH Bildu): "It would be an act of poetic justice if the Basques and Catalans threw out Rajoy."

May 30: Granollers, with a PSC mayor, passes a motion of support with the teachers of El Palau high school (unlike PSC-run l'Hospitalet de Lllobregat, where the school is located).

May 30: Carles Riera (CUP): The nomination of the new ministers "is the high point of capitulation before the Spanish state ... The real no-confidence motion is to build the Republic here."

May 30: Albert Rivera (Citizens): "When will we learn that the enemy is not the socialist, the liberal or the conservative but the separatist who wants to liquidate Spain."

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News (Dani Cordero, Ara, May 29)

Economy Circle calls for a new Catalan Statute and regional funding system

The Barcelona-based lobby demands more “solidarity” from Nafarroa and the Basque Euskadi, plus a system where Spain’s regions are given a more prominent role

Today Barcelona’s Economy Circle released a statement calling for the end of Spain’s “worst crisis since the Constitution was approved in 1978” and demanding a reformed Catalan Statute that would be “recognised as constitutional law within the Spanish Constitution”. As well as granting Spain’s regional governments greater fiscal powers, the Circle espouses a new funding system that would require Nafarroa (Navarra) and Euskadi (the Basque Autonomous Community) to make a contribution to the interregional solidarity kitty. The Barcelona-based lobby released the statement ahead of its yearly conference, which will kick off in Sitges on Thursday afternoon.

The document, which was jointly approved by the Circle’s executive committee, strikes a balancing act between emphasising their “utmost respect for the rule of law” and urging “the political powers to find the appropriate lawful ways to channel the people’s legitimate aspirations and preferences”, as otherwise “the law tends to be flouted”. This is the formula with which they aim to warn both the secessionist parties and those who refuse to engage in talks.

The Circle’s note calls for granting Catalonia greater powers through a new Statute that would be “recognised as a true Catalan Constitution”. Firstly a pact would be needed between the Catalan political parties and later they would seek an agreement with the central government. The Economy Circle believes that at the root of the current crisis is the fact that the present Statute was not voted by the Catalan people after it was watered down by the Spanish Constitutional Court. “Catalonia is the only region whose most fundamental institutional law hasn’t been approved in a referendum”, they note.

The Círcle, currently chaired by Juan José Brugera, believes that with this new Statute “the share of powers between the Catalan and central administrations would be enshrined in the Constitution”, whereas the Catalan Statute “would address the region’s own home affairs”, such as language, education, culture and the management of self-government. This new Statute would have to be approved in a referendum.

The second aspect of the Circle’s proposal is a new funding deal. No reference is made to the possibility of granting Catalonia its own separate fiscal system. In fact, they propose a system that leans toward a standardisation across the regions, where Nafarroa and Euskadi would be expected to give up their privileges and make a greater contribution to the interregional solidarity fund. Likewise, the document proposes a reduction of the regional differences in the yearly public spending per capita.

However, the Circle does call for “greater powers to legislate, manage, collect and inspect” tax revenues by regional governments, which would share their “tax bases” with Spain’s central government. This way the regional administrations would receive their tax revenue upon being collected without having a long wait —as they do now— before the funds are funnelled through the system by the central government. As in the US, the proposal contemplates a dual taxation system (central and regional) for income tax, VAT and business tax.

Translation: Ara, amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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May 29: Citizens demands that article 155 remain in place despite nomination of cabinet without jailed or exiled ministers.

May 29: (El Nacional) Profile of final Torra ministry.

May 29: ANC criticises Torra's decision to withdraw names of four imprisoned and exiled ministers: "This is not the way to effective government."

May 29: Catalan president Quim Torra nominates substitute ministers for the four ministers in exile or in jail after receiving statement from Spanish government that it will not publish names of ministers in the official Catalan government bulletin while these remain on the list. At the same time Torra says that the Catalan government will take a case of perverting the course of justice against Mariano Rajoy.

May 29: CUP MP Natalia Sànchez calls on the PDECat and ERC not to support the PSOE no-confidence motion against Mariano Rajoy: "What will happen with 155? With the prisoners? With the pensions? Will anything change?"

May 29: Barcelona Council adopts a three point agreement after May 27 ultra-right demonstration outside Town Hall led to injury of council guard. (1) Condemnation of violence--unanimous (2) Investigation of source of the violence--unanimous (3) Maintain the yellow ribbon outside the Town Hall--all in favour except PP and Citizens. Deputy mayor Gerardo Pisarello: "It's not a party placard, but a symbol of rejection by a very important part of Barcelona residents of the unjustified imprisonment of people, of repression as a reaction to the Catalan conflict and of commitment to a negotiated solution to the Catalan conflict."

May 29: Opposition parties in the Catalan parliament demand a question time. Government parties refuse while ministers are unable to take up their positions because of Spanish government refusal to accept jailed and exiled nominees as ministers.

May 29: Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, interviewed on SER radio: "The pro-independence movement worries me much more than what the PP has robbed ... If they take away a piece of this state, it's as if they removed a wheel from the car with which I've come to the studio. The only tool the left has with which to carry out a policy of equality is the state, and I am not prepared to allow them to take it from us, even less so because they do it because they feel superior to others."

May 29: Josep Borell, former PSOE minister and speaker of the European parliament: "Comparing Torra to Le Pen is unfair to Le Pen."

May 29: Diana Riba, partner of imprisoned former foreign minister Raül Romeva, demands the European parliament's support in securing the release of the prisoners and, in the meantime, their transfer to jails in Catalonia.

May 29: Exiled health minister Toni Comín gives up delegation of his vote in the Catalan parliament.

May 29: Xavier García Albiol on Quim Torra, on radio RAC 1: "I'm not in favour of comparing him with the Nazis, that's an atrocity."

May 29: Former French president François Hollande says that "the specificity of Catalonia has to be recognised", and calls for a political solution to the crisis.

May 29: Meeting in Strasbourg of MEPs with families of Catalan prisoners and exiles and of other victims of Spanish legal system (below).

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Opinion (Esther Vera, Ara, May 28)

Like a wrecking ball

ERC and PDECat won’t pull their punches in speaking out against the PSOE’s complicity in Article 155, responsible for the political prisoners, but they will have to act with pragmatism

In forty-eight hours Spain’s political landscape has seen an unexpected twist in the plot. Last Wednesday finance minister Cristóbal Montoro managed to have his budget approved in parliament, thus giving Mariano Rajoy a breathing space until the 2020 general election. This was thanks to the votes of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB), who did very well out of the 2017 talks by renegotiating the so-called Basque Quota (€1.7 billion). The Basque country is now guaranteed €540 million for two years and a medal for having arm-wrestled the Spanish government into accepting a 1.6% increase in state pensions for 2018. However, on Thursday, only twenty-four hours after the budget was approved and nine years after the first arrests ordered by Judge Baltasar Garzón, Madrid’s National High Court handed down a harsh ruling against the PP and its "effective system of institutional corruption". The court found Luis Bárcenas, a former PP treasurer, to be a key player in a system to "defraud the public treasury" and the mastermind behind the ruling party’s "B account" [as the PP’s slush fund is known]. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison with a €44 million fine. The verdict fell onto the Spanish political landscape —where everything had appeared settled— like a wrecking ball.

Citizens have gained in self-confidence thanks to their improved electoral chances. This has made them less self-conscious, exposing their obviously Spanish-nationalist frenzy while fading the image, which they had somehow managed to build in Spain, as liberal advocates of renewal. Blinded by the rapid gains made in rebuilding the most extreme form of Spanish nationalism thanks to the Catalan issue, [Citizens leader Albert] Rivera has focused on competing directly with the PP for votes. His ultimate goal is to replace the PP by winning over its voters and, if possible, those of nationalistically inflamed PSOE supporters, following the line of [former PSOE defence minister] José Bono. Rivera intends to emulate Adolfo Suárez, Spain’s young leader who arose from Franco’s Movimiento Nacional following the dictator’s death, but for now he has failed to show the same snake charming skills, capable of building a consensus for the mass hara-kiri of the old regime, as happened during the political Transition [from the Franco dictatorship].

The PP is wallowing in the mud of corruption and is still awaiting two potentially catastrophic court rulings. Rajoy has left the Catalan question in the hands of judges who are diligently going about the salvation of Spain. Meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez’s offer to lead the fight against corruption and building an alternative majority to Rajoy has left Citizens’ leadership high and dry, when they were already picturing themselves in the role of a tough opposition turned into natural governmental alternative favoured by the economic powers-that-be. However, the PSOE’s motion of no confidence in Rajoy has given it a boost just when Citizens had been entrusted with the Spanish flag, Marta Sánchez’s version of the Spanish national anthem¹ and the unashamed support of Madrid’s media.

A visibly irritated Rajoy —and not only for having missed the Champions League final— has begun to manoeuvre to "restore the rules of the game" and avoid the "Frankenstein’s monster" of a government he fears will evict him from the Moncloa two years earlier than planned.

Turning the table means the script can be rewritten and the game restarted. However, the players must be ready to play and ensure that they aren’t liable to fold under public pressure and internal squabbles. For the time being, the PSOE, in contrast with the rhetoric it used a short time ago against president Torra, has announced that it will accept the votes of pro-independence Catalan parties in the Spanish parliament. ERC and the PDECat won’t pull their punches in speaking out against the PSOE’s complicity in Article 155, responsible for the political prisoners, but they will have to act with pragmatism and facilitate the fall of the PP, even if it is only to give politics a chance. They can’t ask for anything in return: the relief and a change in the cast of actors is sufficient reason for them to provide their support and any demand of a previous negotiation would boost those in favour of forcing an agreement with Citizens. The arrogance of the PP’s spokesman in calling Sánchez the "Judas" of Spanish politics for accepting the votes of the pro-independence parties is merely the first shout in yelling that will only grow louder.

The PNB appears to have suffered no problems in pulling off its master stroke. It will have benefitted from its parliamentary support for the Spanish budget and it will be able to help the PSOE in causing the PP to fall, arguing that it is acting against corruption. The question now is whether Sánchez will join forces with Citizens. Whatever happens, it wouldn’t be easy for a caretaker socialist government facing the general elections scheduled for 2020 or in the face of a snap election. Nonetheless, replacing the PP also has advantages for the democratic regeneration that would result and the basic message that no one can get away with corruption.

With regards to Catalonia, any small chance of dialogue will be impossible until Spain has a new government and after the elections, which are always accompanied by rhetoric and extreme propaganda. The game is on and there is no clear winner, but it is hard to imagine the fight against corruption failing to succeed, thus putting an end to Mariano Rajoy’s tenure when he least expected it.

Footnote

1. The Spanish national anthems has no words, but recently pop singer Marta Sánchez invented some and her version is getting an ecstatic reaction in Spanish-nationalist circles. She was a star performer in the May 20 launch of "Citizen Spain", Citizens new platform for stirring up Spanish patriotic sentiment against the "separatist challenge."

Translation: Ara, amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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May 28: Tweet of Quim Torra: "Mr Guerra, I am sending to you at PSOE headquarters a book I edited about a Catalan, teacher and anarchist, who suffered the horror of Mathausen [concentration camp]. I ask you to immediately withdraw this intolerable and despicable insult and to never again use it against me or any other democrat."

May 28: Former PSOE deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra: "Quim Torra is a Nazi."

May 28: PSC leader Miquel Iceta says those like the PP who accuse PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez of negtiating support for his no-confidence motion in the Rajoy government with Catalan pro-independence parties of "moral baseness"

May 28: The CUP group in Barcelona Council demands that the council stop the extreme right from being able to demonstrate in the city.

May 28: Josep Lluís del Alcázar, spokesperson for the teachers of El Palau high school, says that they are "pained" by the defeat of the motion expressing solidarity with them in the PSC-run council of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat. The motion had already been adopted by other councils in the working-class and industrial Llobregat region.

May 28: Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau demands the release of the women political prisoners Dolors Bassa and Carme Forcadell after visiting them in the Alcalá-Meco jail.

May 28: French Italian whistleblower Hervé Falciani says he believes any idea of a Swiss-Spanish "swap" of himself for exiled CUP and ERC leaders Anna Gabriel and Marta Rovira is inconceivable

May 28: Carina Mejías, spokesperson for Citizens on Barcelona Council, demands the removal of the yellow ribbon from the front of Barcelona Town Hall.

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Week ending May 27

Free the political prisoners!

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Backgrounder (Vilaweb, May 25)

The battle about the colour yellow in Catalonia

Citizens' MP Carlos Carrizosa removes yellow ribbon in Catalan parliament

The recent political turmoil in Catalonia, including the incarceration of political leaders, has not only led to widespread demonstrations across the country. Streets and urban furniture have been increasingly dyed in yellow, the color which has become synonymous with the solidarity movement for pro-independence leaders in jail and abroad, including most of the deposed cabinet members of former president Carles Puigdemont. Yet this is not making everyone happy, and has become another cause for controversy in the country.

A senior MP of the main unionist party in the Catalan Parliament, Citizens (Cs), removed a yellow ribbon from the empty government seats in the chamber on Friday. The ribbons were placed there in solidarity with the pro-independence officials who are either in jail or abroad. This led to a sharp exchange of words with the Parliament speaker, Roger Torrent, who suspended the plenary session. “I won’t allow this parliament to be a madhouse or a playground” he told the Citizens MP, Carlos Carrizosa. Some minutes later, the Catalan president, Quim Torra, tweeted that “the yellow ribbon now more than ever represents the Catalan government”.

On Monday, some twenty people in balaclavas stormed an installation in which yellow was the protagonist in order to vandalize it. And the Spanish government is also taking action to end this silent form of protest.

Madrid letter to mayors

Mariano Rajoy’s executive delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, has sent a letter to the nearly 1,000 Catalan mayors asking them to maintain “neutrality” in public spaces. In his message sent on Tuesday, he claims that mayors have the “obligation” to not allow such symbols. According to him, this has caused “a break in the co-existence” in some cases. Millo stated in his letter that in the past few months, some streets, squares and public buildings “are being occupied by these biased symbols”.

Indeed, yellow ribbons are visible drawn on pavements, monuments, traffic lights, fences, façades of libraries and schools… and even on the balconies of town halls and administration buildings, as well as in parliament, in the empty seats of MPs in prison or abroad. During the campaign ahead of the December 2017 Catalan election, the Spanish electoral board obliged local councils to remove yellow signs from public buildings.

Attack on a yellow-flooded beach

And now some beaches are becoming filled with the colour yellow. On Monday, an installation of yellow crosses, in solidarity with Catalan pro-independence leaders, in the sand in Canet de Mar, north of Barcelona, ended up becoming the focal point of a confrontation. A group of people with their faces concealed removed some of the crosses a few hours after they had been installed, and this led to a clash between the promoters of the symbols and the gang in balaclavas. The events sparked criticism from pro-independence parties, who branded the vandals’ moves as “fascist attacks.” To show its support for the installation, a nearby city, Mataró, will set up yellow crosses on its beach as well this Sunday.

In Barcelona, the presence of yellow signs has also led to anti-independence groups reacting and removing them. On May 7 at night, at least three such groups called for actions in the city to clear the colour yellow from the streets. Yet another “anti-fascist” march faced them shouting and chanting. The Catalan police made sure the confrontation did not escalate into violence.

Towns regulating political symbols

Yet the controversy has spread across the country. For instance, the hardliner pro-independence mayor of Arenys de Munt said that his town will be the first one to “fine whoever removes yellow ribbons.” On the contrary, the unionist Socialist local government in Castellbell i el Vilar intends for people to require permission before placing yellow ribbons in a public space.

Yellow ribbons on lapels, questioned?

While the Spanish government and some unionist and radical groups continue to try to eliminate any sign of support for the leaders imprisoned or in exile, there is a place where they will hardly be able to regulate yellow ribbons: on one’s person. A number of people these days wear the sign on their jackets, lapels, shirts, blouses and rucksacks, including a lot of Catalan administration officials and most of the MPs in Parliament.

Yet no one can rule out that this might change in the near future: reportedly some individuals have been barred to marry or testify in local courts wearing yellow ribbons. Recently, FCBarcelona fans also had yellow T-Shirts, ribbons and flags confiscated before entering the stadium where the Spanish Copa del Rey was held in Madrid.

As long as Catalan politicians continue behind bars or seeking refuge in other countries, this controversy is also likely to drag on.

Translation: Vilaweb, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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May 27: Council police injured preventing far-right unionists from entering Barcelona Town Hall in a demonstration against "Hispanophobia" (below).

May 27: PSC leader José Zaragoza wrongly accuses Quim Torra of quoting French collaborationist leader Marechal Pétain in a tweet ("along his xenophobic line. Shame that he is the president"). Torra corrects him--his quote was from Catalan poet Màrius Torres--and Zaragoza has to apologise.

May 27: President Quim Torra publicly asked Lleida mayor Ángel Ros to "work to together for freedom of expression" and not criminalise yellow ribbons in public space.

May 27: Local CDR at Mataró (Maresme) sidesteps council ban on planting yellow crosses on the beach by laying yellows scarfs and towels in the form of crosses on the beach (below).

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Analysis (Ot Serra, Ara, May 25)

PP, Ana Mato found guilty in Gürtel trial, Bárcenas slush fund proven, Rajoy's evidence not credible

The ruling party's former treasurer faces 33 years in prison and fines in excess of €44 million

Sentencing during the first stage of the Gürtel trial (1999-2005) has dealt a heavy blow to corruption in Spain’s Partido Popular (People's Party, PP). Spain's National High Court has found the party led by Mariano Rajoy guilty of actively benefiting from a conspiracy involving bribes and illegally awarding contracts, part of which was destined for the party’s finances by means of a slush fund. The PP used the money to finance its election campaigns in several towns in the Madrid area, such as Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcón.

One of the stiffest sentences was handed down to the party’s former treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, the poster boy of corruption within the PP, who has other charges pending, such as the 'B accounts' case [parallel accounts showing the real sources and destiny of PP funds]. Bárcenas was sentenced to 33 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of €44 million. His wife has also been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Bárcenas tried to excuse his wife from criminal responsibility for having concealed millions of euros in foreign bank accounts, in exchange for him accepting a stiffer sentence. However, the court refused to consider his request.

This is the first verdict in which the courts have confirmed the existence of illegal accounting by the PP, describing it as: "A financial and accounting structure which existed in parallel to the official one since at least 1989, in which entries were made informally, sometimes in the form of handwritten notes such as those belonging to Bárcenas, specifying the party’s income and expenses or, in other instances, amounts paid to specific members of the party".

The former Minister of Health, Ana Mato, has also been found guilty of having received illegal payments and will have to pay €28,467. Mato took numerous holidays and held parties, paid for with money from Gürtel head Francisco Correa’s business network. Correa, seen as the mastermind behind the graft network, has been sentenced to almost 52 years in prison. However, Correa and one of his two business partners, Pablo Crespo, sentenced to 37 years in prison, were both acquitted of the crime of illicit association. Meanwhile, Álvaro Pérez, known as 'The Moustache', who was only charged with bribery and tax evasion, has been acquitted and will not face jail. Pérez is involved in the Valencian wing of the Gürtel case, however. Correa’s ex-wife, Carmen Rodríguez, a former Majadahonda City Council’s chief of staff, has been sentenced to almost 15 years in prison.

The other defendants who have been found guilty include the former mayor of Majadahonda, Guillermo Ortega, with 38 years; the former Madrid councillor Alberto López Viejo, with 31 years, and the former mayor of Pozuelo, Jesús Sepúlveda, with 14 years. The penalties include 28 convictions for perverting the course of justice that entail being barred from holding public office for a total of 194 years. In total, of the 37 defendants, 29 were convicted, receiving more than 351 years in prison for crimes of unlawful association, defrauding a public administration, bribery, falsification of documents, embezzlement of public funds, perverting the course of justice, money laundering, tax evasion, influence peddling and unlawful appropriation. The illegal activities, for which Correa was paid €8.4 million, have been given a verdict seven and a half years after Judge Baltasar Garzón ordered the first arrests in 2009.

Dissenting vote by the president

The sentence records a dissenting vote by the President of the Court, Ángel Hurtado, who believes that the PP has not liability in this case. He considers that "it is necessary to assume the PP’s total lack of participation in and ignorance of the criminal acts" and feels that it has not been proved that the party was aware of the activities of its members in Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcón. According to the judge, "Ortega and Sepúlveda kept their activities secret from the party, and it is even harder to see how the PP benefited from them", going on to say he believes the "real beneficiaries" are the two former mayors, who stood in the 2003 municipal elections.
The leaders of the PP make the same argument, when speaking on this issue, having always maintained that the PP knew nothing at the national level, including Mariano Rajoy, when he gave evidence before the National Court in San Fernando de Henares. The two judges whose views are in the majority question the "credibility" of the witnesses, including Rajoy’s, who denied all knowledge of the parallel bookkeeping. The PP has already released a statement announcing that it will appeal the sentence.

Bárcenas, a key figure

The judges described Correa's network as an "effective system of institutional corruption employing mechanisms for the manipulation of central, regional and local public procurement thanks to a close relationship with influential members of the PP who had the potential to influence the decision-making processes with regard to the awarding of contracts by certain public bodies". The sentencing statement goes on to say that certain companies enjoyed favourable treatment from the public administration in order to unlawfully obtain significant financial gain. A further illegal practice was the charging of commissions when another company placed a successful bid, with the resulting sums either disbursed by Correa himself or the public officials who participated in the procedure.
In passing sentence, the judges consider that Bárcenas was a key figure, "a veritable master of defrauding the Treasury". They conclude that the PP's former treasurer took the necessary steps to ensure that the contracts "would be won by the firm which he wished to favour". However, a significant part of Bárcenas’ sentence is due to having transferred his illegal earnings to Swiss bank accounts and for having siphoned off funds belonging to the PP, sums which the party refuses to lay claim to.

Sentence review hearing

The Prosecutor's Office of the National Court has already requested that a sentence review hearing be held according to Article 505 of the Criminal Code for sixteen of the individiuals who were sentenced. These include, Bárcenas and his wife, López Viejo, Sepúlveda and Ortega. The Public Prosecutor's Office is likely to ask for them to be held on remand until the sentences become final, since the defence may still appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court. Bárcenas is still embroiled in the B accounts case, meaning the Prosecutor's Office is more likely to ask for him to be held on remand.

Translation: Ara, slightly emended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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May 26: PSC mayor of Lelida, Angel Ros, orders yellow ribbons removed from public space.

May 26: Quim Torra: "Mr Pedro Sánchez will have us by his side in everything that is defence of citizen's political and civil rights. That means supporting the Catalan political prisoners and exiles."

May 26: PDECat decides to run in the May 2019 municipal elections under the banner of JxCat.

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Opinion (Vicenç Villatoro, Ara, May 22)

President Torra is neither a fascist, nor a racist or a xenophobe 

1. Catalonia’s newly appointed president, Quim Torra, is neither a fascist, nor a racist or a xenophobe.
2. The old tweets of his which have been dug up were both imprudent and inappropriate.
3. Some of his other writings have been twisted and taken out of context, so that they convey the opposite of their intended meaning.
4. If we applied the same standards to Twitter posts and other writings by prominent political leaders who refer to themselves as constitutionalists, they could be called names like president Torra has, probably in an equally unfair manner.
5. Spanish nationalists have succeeded in using Torra’s inappropriate tweets for their own political ends, which has objectively damaged Catalonia’s pro-independence cause, mainly because they have fuelled a pre-existing prejudice.
6. This initial propaganda victory by Spanish nationalists might eventually backfire on them due to their tendency to blow things out of proportion. When a mistake on Twitter prompts a newspaper headline claiming that the PP, the PSOE and Ciudadanos wish to persuade Europe that Torra intends to exterminate Spaniards, the exaggeration is so gross that it becomes detrimental to those who endorse it.
And one last thing: using the sort of language that feels at home in the Balkans is not only a mistake, an exaggeration and a lie. It is, above all, irresponsible and immoral.

Translation: Ara
Note: See here for more comment on this issue.

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May 25: PSC of Badalona decides on plebiscite of members on whether to oust left pro-sovereignty mayoralty of Dolors Sabater with support of PP and Citizens.

May 25: Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó defends rights of citizens to display political insignia in public space.

May 25: Town council of Lleida, run by alliance of PSC and Citizens, votes down motion requiring it to investigate police violence on October 1.

May 25: CDR Audiovisual produces this video on police violence on October 1.

May 25: Podemos gives unconditional support to PSOE's motion of no-confidence in Rajoy government.

May 25: PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez tables a motion of no-confidence in the Rajoy government given the decision of the judges in the Gürtel case.

May 25: Barcelona Council adopts PSC resolution condeming "xenophobia" of president Quim Torra. Barcelona Together and mayoress Ada Colau vote in favour.

May 25: High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) rejects Citizens' petition as to illegality of investiture of Quim Torra.

May 25: Catalan government's legal advisory commission officially advises that the Spanish government is legally obliged to publish the names of the Catalan ministers appointed by president Torra.

May 25: Basque premier (lehendakari) Iñigo Urkullu: "I feel certain that article 155 will be lifted."

May 25: Compromise reached in Catalan parliament: yellow ribbon to be placed alongside president Quim Torra.

May 25: Tweet of Carles Puigdemont: "That a peaceful, civic, popular symbol irritates them, that the freedom of expression of those who don't think like them irritates them to the point of wanting it erradicated from public space...confirms the national-falangist turn they've taken. The new right is neither new nor right: it's ancient and extreme right."

May 25: President Quim Torra sits alone in front row (reserved for ministers) of Catalan parliament, as protest against Spanish government refusal to publish names of incoming ministers in Catalan government official bulletin (see below). Citizens' MP Carlos Carrizosa is on his feet complaining about presence of yellow ribbon on the opposition side of the parliament.

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Front cover, El País, May 25: "PP condemned; Rajoy's credibility in doubt."

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May 24: New Generations, the PP youth organisation, starts campaign "Throw the yellow into the yellow", that is, pull down yellow streamers and ribbons in solidarity with Catalan political prisoners and put them in the yellow rubbish container (for plastic).

May 24: Judges in the Gürtel case find the PP guilty of systematic robbery of public funds to fund the party and bring down sentences of up to 55 years for the leading defendents, including former PP treasurer Luis Barcenas.

May 24: Ada Colau on demand of Spanish government delegate Enric Millo that public spaces be "neutral": "Freedom of expression upsets the PP:"

May 24: Spanish National Police raids begin on various government centres and NGO offices in Catalonia (see article below for details).

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News (Vilaweb, May 24)

Police raids are a ‘smokescreen’ for PP corruption say pro-independence parties

Spanish police operation included several raids and 29 arrests

A major police operation in Catalonia on Thursday involving several raids and 29 arrests was deemed by pro-independence politicians to be a “smokescreen” to divert attention from the final verdict of the so-called Gürtel case, a corruption scandal for which Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PP) has been found guilty.

Catalan president Quim Torra shared a tweet by a local councilor in Barcelona implying that both developments could be linked. Jordi Coronas, a member of pro-independence ERC party, wrote that ahead of the ‘Gürtel’ sentence it was still not known “which offices in Catalonia will be raided by the Spanish Guardia Civil police in order to cover up the news a little bit.” Torra retweeted the message and added: “Prophetic”.

Propaganda

Torra’s would-be vice president, Pere Aragonès, condemned the operation as “clearly propagandistic in intention.” He said that some media already knew about the operation before it even started, and added that creating a “film set” is not the best way to gather evidence.

Aragonès also stressed that no public funds went towards paying for the independence referendum last October. Spanish newspapers and politicians linked the police operation with Catalonia’s push for independence, yet judicial sources told Catalan News Agency that they were not related.

CUP decries actions

The Barcelona court that ordered the raids opened the investigation two years ago following a complaint by the far-left CUP party and the anarcho-syndicalist CGT union over misuse of funds in Barcelona’s regional authority.

“We will not allow the independence movement to be used to cover up corruption cases” said Maria Rovira, a local councilor for CUP, who added that “nor will we tolerate Spain’s machinery using these cases to attack the independence movement.”

Normal functioning

Spain’s justice minister Rafael Catalá said the police operation was part of “the normal functioning of our institutions.” He said that “the judiciary intervenes whenever there is a basis.”

Ciutadans, Spain’s fourth-largest party, took both on pro-independence parties as well as PP, which they support in parliament. “For the very first time in our democracy, we have in the Spanish government a party convicted for corruption,” said Ciutadans leader Albert Rivera, and added that “This harms us at a very delicate moment due to [Catalonia’s] independence challenge.”

Translation: Vilaweb

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May 23: JxCat members close to Carles Puigdemont register the party name "First of October Movement".

May 23: Carles Puigdemont expresses solidarity with rapper Valtònyc, who has chosen to go into exile in Belgium to avoid imprisonment in Spain.

May 23: José María Mena, former chief prosecutor of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, warns against manipulation of concept of "hate crime".

May 23: Barcelona women's protest in support of imprisoned and exiled Catalan women MPs and activists (below).

May 23: Òmnium Cultural, the Peace Foundation, the Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia and other entities launch their "Tomorrow It Could Be You" campaign against the rise of political and legal repression, to feature large-scale advertising on billboards and public transport (as on Barcelona bus below).

May 23: Xavier García Albiol, PP leader and former PP mayor of Badalona, offers to support a PSC candidate for the mayoralty in order to remove the left, pro-sovereignty administration of mayoress Dolors Sabater.

May 23: Basque Nationalist Party (PNB), ruling in Euskadi, decides to support the Rajoy government's 2018 budget, despite the continuation of the Spanish government's article 155 intervention in Catalonia. The PNB had promised not to support the budget while article 155 remained in place.

May 23: President Torra asks for report from Catalan Advisory Legal Commission on the legality of the Spanish government refusal to publish the names of the incoming Catalan ministers.

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News (Vilaweb, May 23)

Rapper Valtònyc goes into exile to avoid prison

The artist was found guilty of glorifying terrorism, slander and defamation against the crown over the content of his lyrics

Mallorcan rapper Valtònyc has followed the path of Catalan pro-independence politicians and has also gone into exile to avoid prison. He went to Belgium a few days ago, as he had to comply with a condemnation of three and a half years of prison for glorifying terrorism and for serious injuries to the Spanish crown in verses of his songs.

The convicted rapper warned on Wednesday that he would “not make it easy” for the authorities to put him in prison, because “disobeying is legitimate and obligatory against a fascist state.” The artist, who was found guilty of glorifying terrorism, slander and defamation against the crown over the content of his lyrics, regretted on Twitter that the authorities will have to “break down” his door to put him in prison “over some songs.”

At the beginning of May, Spain’s Constitutional Court dismissed the rapper’s appeal against his conviction, with the National Court setting a deadline of 10 days for him to be locked up, a deadline that expires on Thursday. Valtonyc, who real name is José Miguel Arenas Beltrán and who is facing up to three and a half years behind bars, has said he will not go to prison voluntarily.

Solidarity

Just a few days ago, supporters of Valtonyc pointed out that if the rapper goes to prison he will become the first musician in Spain to do so because of his song lyrics. On June 17, a concert involving more than 40 performers from around Spain is planned to take place in the rapper’s home of Mallorca to show solidarity with the artist.

Valtonyc’s defense lawyer says he will call on the court to suspend his client’s prison sentence while he refers his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. NGO Amnesty International also condemned the prison sentence in a recent report.

Translation: Vilaweb

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May 22: Tomorrow's swearing in of Catalan ministers suspended.

May 22: PSC officeholders such as Tarragona mayor Josep Fèlix Ballesteros question Pedro Sánchez's attack on Torra as "racist" and "supremacist".

May 22: PSC of outer Barcelona council L'Hospitalet de Llobregat votes against motion of support to the teaching staff of El Palau high school, some of whom are being investigated for "hate crimes" after their presentations to pupils on October 3 on the events of October 1 at the school. The motion is passed with the support of Initiative of the Catalonia-Greens (ICV), United and Alternative Left (EUiA) and Pirates group, and ERC, PDECat and the CUP.

May 22: ANC president Elisenda Pulizie visits Corsica to develop alliances with Corsican independence forces.

May 22: Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, sends letter to all Catalan councils demanding they remove all expressions of support for the political prisoners and exiles from public space.

May 22: Constitutional Court rejects provisional release for former vice-president Junqueras and former ANC president Jordi Sànchez.

May 22: Citizens says its will appeal to the Constitutional Court on the legality of Torra's swearing in because he did not undertake to abide by the constitution or recognise the Spanish monarchy [Note: Problem for Citizens: the Basque Autonomous Community oath of office does not mention loyalty to these entities.]

May 22: Llarena denies freedom to Turull and Rull to attend tomorrow's invesiture.

May 22: Schleswig-Holstein court rules that Carles Puigdemont did not commit "rebellion" (the new charge brought by Supreme Court judge Llarena after the court rejected extradition for "sedition").

May 22: Torra accepts criticism of lack of gender balance in his cabinet, but says the principle of legitimate restitution had to come first.

May 22: Torra: "Independence should have been declared on October 10."

May 22: Torra states that abusive tweets about one of his daughters who has spina bifida "hurt me very much."

May 22: Roger Torrent (speaker, Catalan parliament, on May 21 aggression on beach of Canet de Mar): "It is very worrying that groups of fascists and ultra-rightists go unpunished through our streets."

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Opinion (José Antich, El Nacional, May 22)

Torra, with the political prisoners

In the conflict Spain is maintaining with Catalonia, this Monday has been an important day. And sad. Very sad. For the first time since the so-called Spanish Transition¹, a president of Catalonia has visited three prisons near Madrid to meet nine Catalan political prisoners. A significant portion of the Catalan government fired by Mariano Rajoy, the leaders of ANC and Òmnium and the former speaker of the Parliament. Judge Pablo Llarena is keeping all of them in pretrial detention after having rejected, one after the others, all the filings from the defence to put an end to an unjust, anomalous and absurd situation before their trial.

Of the three visits, the one to Estremera prison stands out and his meeting with ministers Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, who had accepted to join the new government; knowing, that said, that their terms depend on the Supreme Court deciding to suspend their rights, once the indictment is finalised. Turull and Rull thanked Torra for their nominations and stayed by their wish to be reinstated. The president also spoke with Oriol Junqueras, Quim Forn and Raül Romeva, who renounced months ago returning to the government in their current legal situation.

From Estremera, Torra went to Alcalá Meco, where Carme Forcadell and Dolors Bassa told him that they feel like hostages of the Spanish justice system. And he ended in Soto del Real with the Jordis, Sànchez and Cuixart, who asked him to never renounce self-determination for Catalonia. Nine lives cut short and a shared idea: that their struggle for Catalonia's dignity makes sense.

A fight which is, certainly, unequal. So much so, that the person who has to publish the decree nominating the nine ministers isn't doing so purely and simply because they don't feel like it and the Catalan government's official gazette depends on them. And a fight in which Rajoy, Sánchez and Rivera are able to agree to maintain article 155, the first two breaking their word, and all three breaking the Constitution. German newspaper Telepolis, which has received various awards for investigative journalism, has directly described it as a "silent coup d'état in Spain".

The Jordis have been in prison for 217 days: Junqueras and Forn, 198; Turull, Rull, Romeva and Bassa, 90 and Forcadell, 59. The force of the state in the face of the resistence of a society mobilised in the defence of its rights. As the Human Rights Observatory of the University of Barcelona says, in defence of democracy under threat.

Translator's note: 1. The Spanish Transition (to democracy) is the name for the period following Franco's death in 1975 and the ensuing end of the dictatorship.

Translation: El Nacional

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May 21: Demonstrations across Catalonia in protest of continuation of 155 (called by ANC).

May 21: Town of Sant Cugat (Vallès Occidental) to change name of King's Square to First of October Square.

May 21: Torra announces that he will visit Scotland before the extradition hearing on July 30 of former education minister Clara Ponsati.

May 21: (El Nacional): Hooded unionists remove yellow crosses at Barcelona beach, injuring five

May 21: Pedro Sánchez: "Is the ERC comfortable having given support to a supremacist president of Catalonia?"

May 21: Pedro Sánchez: "The declarations of Torra are as far right as those of Vox."

May 21: Deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria: "The dynamic that Torra has started is perverse."

May 21: Torra visits political prisoners in three prisons near Madrid.

May 21: DOGC publishes ministerial positions in new Catalan ministry without names.

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News (Albert Acin, El Nacional, May 20)

Rajoy agrees with PSOE and Citizens to continue direct rule over Catalonia

The worst predictions are confirmed for Quim Torra's new Catalan government: the Spanish authorities will maintain their direct rule over Catalonia under article 155 of the constitution, and will not publish the nominations of four ministers who are in prison on remand or in exile abroad - effectively amounting to a veto of these ministers. Spain's governing Popular Party (PP) confirmed this decision on Sunday morning.

The decision followed discussions between the major Spanish political parties on Saturday, in response to president Torra's announcement of his new Catalan executive. Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy spoke with the leader of the Spanish Socialists (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, and the head of the Citizens (Cs) party, Albert Rivera, and the three decided to maintain the extraordinary constitutional powers granted under article 155.

The decision signifies a refusal to authorize the official publication of the ministerial nominations. This in turn means that the ministers in exile or in prison will not be able to become an effective part of the Catalan executive. Four of the thirteen ministers are affected by the decision of the Spanish government: the ministers for Presidency (Jordi Turull), Territory and Sustainability (Josep Rull), Culture (Lluís Puig) and Health (Toni Comín).

Why can article 155 be maintained?

The refusal of the Spanish government to publish the nomination of the ministers extends the validity of Madrid's direct rule over Catalonia, under article 155 of the Spanish constitution. The Rajoy government could attempt to justify this move based on the decision announced on 27th October last year, when article 155 was imposed, that the direct rule measures would continue until the new Catalan government emerging from last December's election took possession. 

For the new Catalan government to take possession and start functioning, the names of members of the government have to be published in the Catalan government's official gazette - and at present it is Rajoy who controls this publication. In this way, the Spanish prime minister has obtained a veto power over the appointments.

The PSOE's change of course  

The key element in understanding this measure is the common front of these three Spanish political parties - given that the PP's Spanish adminstration is a minority government - and especially the support of the PSOE, which had already offered its support to Rajoy to veto the nomination of the new Government.

In the last few days, the socialists have committed themselves to a harder line on Catalonia, close to that followed by the PP and Cs. This has been evident from proposals made by the PSOE leadership this last week, including a reform of the Spain's criminal code to adapt, after the fact, the legal definition of rebellion to the actions actually taken by the independence movement, as well as a plan to make obedience to the constitution compulsory.

A "confrontation with the state"

The secretary general of the Catalan branch of the PP, Santi Rodríguez, confirmed to Catalan radio station RAC1 that the Spanish government would not end the imposition of 155 following the decision of the new Catalan government, headed by president Quim Torra, to reinstate sacked ministers who are currently jailed or in exile.

"155 will remain in force until there is a Catalan government whose only objective is to govern Catalonia and govern for all Catalans", said Rodríguez, blaming the pro-independence forces for having caused the extension of 155: "When ministers are nominated who are in prison on remand or have fled justice, the real will is not to form a government but to maintain a confrontation with the state".

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Week ending May 20

Free the political prisoners!

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May 20: Lluís Puig writes to the European Commission, asking for it to support his right to become Catalan minister for culture as nominated.

May 20: CatECP: "Maintaining article 155 is absolutely unjustifiable."

May 20: Spanish prime minister's office orders the permanent secretary of the Catalan government not to publish the names of the new ministers in the offical bulletin (DOGC).

May 20: Exiled ministers Puig and Comín undertake to resign if they cannot do their work from Belgium.

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Comment (Estefania Molina, El Nacional, May 20)

Socialist PSOE party hardens position on Catalonia to relaunch its image in Spain

Ferreres, Ara, May 23

Optometrist: "Look carefully: what differences do you see between these figures [Rajoy, Rivera and Sánchez]?"
Patient: "None, I don't see any."
Optometrist: "You've got perfect sight."

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Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), is content playing the role of a statesman: meetings with Mariano Rajoy, photographs on the steps of the prime ministerial residence as leader of the opposition, and cultivating his part as preferred partner for the Spanish government as it lays down a re-imposition of direct rule on Catalonia, in the face of the "xenophobic character" of new Catalan president Quim Torra. Almost forgotten is his discourse of a year ago on a "pluri-national" Spain, when he won the socialist primaries, advocating a reform of the Spanish constitution. The new strategy of the PSOE - one of Spain's two major political parties for 40 years, but with its position under threat in recent times - is to take a tougher line against Catalan independence in order to relaunch itself for the general election of 2020.

This week saw the confirmation of that. Sánchez called for the redefinition of the crime of rebellion in the Spanish criminal code to adapt it to current times – that is, to the independence process. What's more, the PSOE proposed a law change so that public officials would be required to declare their "obedience to the constitution" when taking possession of their posts, something which neither of the last two Catalan presidents had to do. The strategy, however, has been in force for longer than that: in April, the PSOE leader went on an international tour to help promote the Spanish establishment's narrative on the Catalan issue abroad, which was followed up a few days ago with a letter sent by the Spanish and Catalan socialists to their European counterparts to discredit the new Catalan leader. 

The fact is that this course correction comes at a moment when nationalist issues are growing stronger within the Spanish political narrative, with the Citizens party (Ciudadanos, or Cs) waving the flag as it takes an especially virulent stand against Catalan nationalism, in its struggle with the ruling Popular Party (PP) for the right-wing electorate. This is in parallel with the slight fall in support undergone by the other competitor on the left, Podemos, since the imposition of direct rule in Catalonia under article 155 - a measure which Podemos opposed and took to the Spanish constitutional court, bringing the party heavy criticism from most of the Spanish media. Indeed, there are some analysts who imagine a future political table dominated by just three major parties, where the Catalan and Basque nationalists would not be necessary for the formation of a Spanish government.

PSOE sources recognize that their strategy involves an avoidance of making the Catalan conflict "a subject of debate" - that is, treating it as a question of state. This would allow, in the first place, the "construction of a wall", they say, against what they describe as the "supremacism" of Catalan president Torra and the growth of such ideas in Catalan society. Secondly, closing ranks with the PP and Cs would help to neutralize this element which they suspect could be growing, by avoiding disagreements with the other two largest parties. Moreover, this line would also differentiate them from the approach taken by Podemos on the left.   

It seems that the new strategy has its basis in the field of opinion research, an area that appears to be of great concern to the new spin-doctor of Sánchez – who, it is speculated, told the socialist leader not to make excessive public appearances to speak about the independence process during the tensest months of the crisis, last October and November. For one thing, the survey data shows voters switching from the PP and PSOE to Cs. As well, the PSOE has long been going backwards in the regions with their own powerful nationalisms: Galicia, the Basque Country and Catalonia, where Podemos coalitions have been gaining ground from it. 

And so this is how the PSOE secretary general has swung the steering wheel with regard to nationalist issues since he was elected to the party leadership in 2014. After presenting a giant Spanish flag at a public event, the socialist leader then imposed an exclusion on the Catalan pro-independence parties ERC and PDeCAT in the negotiations for his attempt to form a Spanish government in 2016 – unless they renounced a Catalan referendum - and this, in spite of the rumours of them working with the PSOE to create a "Frankenstein" government in Spain. Then, to his defence of a pluri-national Spain but without regions having the right to secede, on to the suggestion of a territorial commission to reform the constitution, and ending up, a few days ago, facing off with the new Catalan president in Twitter, and labelling him as the "Spanish Le Pen". 

And this erratic drift in its conception of the state, has now arrived to the point where the PSOE says that "the second time is easier than the first", in allusion to the new implementation of article 155 that could be applied if the Catalan government goes beyond legality. A transcendental about-face compared to the politics of Spain's former PSOE prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who gave the initial go-ahead to Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy before it was stripped apart by the Constitutional Court in 2010. A story which received its most ironic punchline a year ago, in the three-way debate for the PSOE leadership, when the Basque socialist Patxi López, who was facing Susana Díaz and Sánchez for the leadership of the party, asked: "But Pedro, do you know what a nation is?"

Translation: El Nacional

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May 19: Mireia Boya (CUP): "A government with 11 men and three women will never be the republic we want."

May 19: Inés Arrimades (Citizens), on new cabinet including jailed and exiled ministers: "It is impossible to lift article 155".

May 19: Quim Torra announces his cabinet (biographies here). Two are jailed ministers Jordi Turull (government spokesperson and Josep Rull (infrastructure) and two exiled ministers Lluís Puig (culture) and Toni Comín (health).

May 19: Pedro Sánchez (PSOE): "Not that way, Mr Torra. Move from words to deeds, please. There's no problem in talking, if your supremacism will allow it. Maybe you believe yourself above those who are or think differently. But neither you, nor your predecessors nor your mates are above the law."
May 19: Puigdemont's German lawyer, Wolfgang Schomburg: "I don't understand why the [German] federal government didn't from the outset and on its own initiative say that it wouldn't approve his extradition. We don't want dramatic internal Spanish political matters resolved on German soil."

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Opinion (Thomas Harrington, Vilaweb, May 18)

The Establishment’s 'Controversialisation' of the President of Catalonia

Thomas Harrison is associate professor of languiage and culture studies at Connecticut's Trinity College

About four decades or so ago, the economic and military establishment of the US, frightened by the citizenry’s growing tendency to question the underlying presumptions of the nation’s civic discourse, planned a very sophisticated and detailed attack upon what Samuel Huntington, in a 1975 report prepared for the Trilateral Commission, termed “the excess of democracy” in the country.

Like the “Powell Memo”, an action plan prepared by corporate lawyer and future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell for the head of the US Chamber of commerce four years earlier, the report of the famous political scientist from Harvard demonstrated a frank acknowledgement of the essential role played by the press and the expansion of educational opportunities in generating the fast-spreading democratic cancer. And it expressed and a clear desire to neutralize their roles as the godfathers of this dangerous new wave of popular sovereignty.

In the intervening years the establishment has worked day and night, using all available resources to put the recommendations of their two loyal counsellors into practice.

Their strategic counterattack has availed itself of many tactical tools. There is, for example, the practice—refined, not coincidentally, during the Reagan years just following the establishment’s covert declaration of hostilities—of restricting press access to public servants, a practice which turns the journalist into a supplicant, subject like all supplicants to the whims and pressures of their object of desire.

But much more important in the long run has been the widespread and highly purposeful use of what Robert Parry, the recently deceased journalist and unparalleled student of the ways of institutionalised power, called “controversalisation”.

Controversialisation is the practice of seizing upon an objectively insignificant and allegedly unflattering detail about a person challenging the present order of social power, and encouraging the corporate media (not a difficult thing to do for those with money) to repeat it endlessly until it is widely presumed to be of grave social importance. The goal, as the saying goes, is to “suck the air out of the room”, that is, to deprive the social insurgent of the opportunity to articulate his or her agenda on their own terms in any clear and consistent manner.

If all goes well for the Establishment, the beleaguered insurgent, desperate to put an end to the growing media circus, will cede to his advisors’ advice and offer a public apology for his alleged sin. But this public act of contrition almost never achieves its intended effect. Rather than granting the insurgent a much-desired absolution, it generally serves, in the eyes of the corporate press, as a death certificate for the new leader and his or her political project.

The incredible thing in all this is not so much the Establishment continues to employ this tactic, but that its victims lend themselves to these machinations with such regularity.

The key to combatting this type of media bullying lies in the adoption of two simple but essential mental postures before the Establishment and its media machine.

The first it to refuse to accept the framing of the issue put forth by the leaders of the siege and their many unconscious noise-making servants in the corporate press as universal or, even normative. To engage in discussions (and this includes offering apologies) over issues generated by your powerful detractors for the explicit purpose of destroying you, is to effectively ratify, and demonstrate your conformity with, the existing imbalance of power between you and them.

The second—which requires overcoming the aversion that so many democrats of good faith have to admitting when they are, in fact, in the middle of a pitched battle where the ability to intimidate id fundamental—is to speak freely and without reserve about the generally much more grave record destruction and incivility found behind by the wall of smoke generated by the opponent’s campaign of controversialization.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that all too few leaders of the movement for Catalan sovereignty fully understand this much-practiced establishment game and the most effective means of neutralising it.

Of those that do seem to understand it, the name of Mireia Boya (CUP) comes most immediately to mind. And in the international realm, the comportment of Clara Ponsatí’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar has, in this sense, been exemplary.

So, in light of all this, how should the newly elected Catalan President Quim Torras have responded to the “controversy” surrounding his ancient tweets? By saying calmly, something like this: “I’d be delighted address that matter, but only in the context a conversation that begins with a detailed examination of the thinly veiled deaths threats against President Puigdemont issued by PP spokesman Pablo Casado on October 7th, 2017. Are there any other questions?”.

Translation: Vilaweb

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May 18: Torra sends letter to Spanish prime minister Rajoy asking for a meeting "without conditions".

May 18: Andreu Van den Eynde, lawyer for some of the Catalan political prisoners, says that the fact PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez wants to rephrase  the crime of "rebellion" in contemporary terms confir,s that no "rebellion" took place on October 1.

May 18: Pedro Sànchez: "Torra is nothing more nor less than the Le Pen of Spanish politics."

May 18: Spanish government spokeperson Iñigo Méndez de Vigo says that it "will act" if Torra nominates imprisoned MPs as ministers.

May 18: Unionist umbrella Catalan Civil Society (SCC) calls for the Spanish accounts tribunal (public auditor) to investigate dues paid by Catalan councils to the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI).

May 18: Xavier García Albiol (PP, Catalonia): "Any new article 155 intervention will be longer and more severe."

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Backgrounder (Pere Cardus, VilaWeb, March 14)

Quim Torra, the man who didn’t hold back

A profile of the MP, publisher and lawyer now president of the Catalan government

After twenty years of work in a private company and a couple of years in Switzerland, Quim Torra decided it was time for a change and returned to Catalonia to begin a new life. A lover of literature, journalism, and books, Torra left behind a life of PowerPoint presentations and high-level executive meetings in the insurance industry to focus on writing and to found a new publishing company, called A Contra Vent, which means against the wind in Catalan. That experience was recorded in the pages of Ganivetades suïsses, a voyage (return trip) to the heart of management and unbridled capitalism (Símbol).

Upon returning to Catalonia, Torra immersed himself in archives, correspondence, notebooks, diaries and pages of old newspapers in order to unearth key figures from the best years of Catalan journalism and make them known to everyone. This is how he became the leading expert in the life and works of Eugeni Xammar, a Catalan journalist who spent sixty years travelling the world. He wrote a biography of Xammar, also published by Símbol. Xammar will always be remembered for his commitment to Catalonia, as condensed into a single sentence: “When it comes to Catalonia, I never hold back.” And later on, in 2009, he won the Carles Rahola award for essayists with his work “Involuntary Voyage to an Impossible Catalonia”, about journalists Lluís Capdevila, Àngel Ferran, and Francesc Madrid, who had to go into exile when the Republic was defeated in 1939.

Quim Torra, born in December 1962 in Blanes, has combined his intense work in archives and libraries with an equally intense dedication to cultural and political activism in civic society. He also works constantly as a writer of articles for a number of magazines and newspapers, and as a publisher of dozens of books, under the A Contra Vent seal. His first position in a pro-sovereignty organization was as President of Sobirania i Justícia (Sovereignty and Justice), when in February of 2011 he took over for Agustí Bassols, who had died fifteen days earlier. Torra left the presidency of this organization in March 2014. It was also 2011 when he filed suit —later dismissed— with the European Court of Human Rights against the Spanish Constitutional Court’s ruling that watered down the Catalan Statute.

Quim Torra also took on institutional responsibilities in 2011. The Barcelona City Council named him Director of Promotion for the old town district in September. Nine months later, in June 2012, then-Mayor Xavier Trias named him Director of the Born Cultural Center. Torra put this “ground zero of 1714”, as he liked to call it, on the map, and made it a leading cultural and heritage site for the city. He was in charge of the Born CC until September 2015, when he left the position after the new administration of Ada Colau took office. He then took over the management of the Revista de Catalunya and, between July and November, was at the helm of Òmnium Cultural as interim president when Muriel Casals stepped down to join the Junts pel Sí slate for the September elections of that year.

It was a time of frenetic activity. The role of the pro-independence organizations was decisive in greasing the wheels of the parties that had taken the step of running together as a coalition. But it was also a time for strengthening synergies with the far left CUP. And Quim Torra was untiring in his pursuit of this task. He is a defender of unwavering loyalty to public mandates, and puts all his effort into demanding that these commitments be explained explicitly and clearly. Torra captained the Òmnium ship until December 2015, when Jordi Cuixart (today in jail) took over. A few months later, in March 2016, he was named director of Catalonia’s Centre d’Estudis de Temes Contemporanis (Study Center for Contemporary Issues), a body reporting to the Catalan administration. That same year he penned The Last 100 Meters, a book which describes the final steps towards the Republic, and a biographical portrait of deceased Òmnium leader Muriel Casals.

Quim Torra took another step forward in his civic and political trajectory when he agreed to occupy a leading position in the list for Junts per Catalunya in the December 21, 2017 elections. The publisher and lawyer fiercely defended the legitimacy of the President and the government that had been evicted from their offices by the application of Article 155 [Spanish direct rule]. In a letter to former Catalan minister Clara Ponsatí published in VilaWeb, Torra pointed out the formula for confronting the pounding from the State: “Moving quickly doesn’t mean running, merely advancing in a straight line and exercising the sovereignty of the Catalan people. Only in this way is it possible —will it be possible— to deal with the attacks from Madrid.”

In a recent interview (in March of this year), Torra explained the lesson that can be drawn from last October: “I had imagined that if ten went to prison, they would suffer, but if it was three thousand who were charged, we wouldn’t have been imprisoned. And what happened is that ten went to prison. This is the lesson of October, also. When a favorable time comes around again, we must be willing to have three thousand go to prison. And to face the consequences. I’ve believed this my entire life, and I still believe it. I will not deny that which I have always thought.”

His trajectory has led to him being a well-respected asset for all the families of the independence movement. He has a good relationship with representatives from ERC and the CUP. He has been one of the negotiators of the agreements that will allow this term to move forward. And he has demanded, at all times, loyalty to the mandate of October 1st to build an independent Republic of Catalonia. During the past few days, when President Puigdemont first approached him about the presidency, Quim Torra recalled the phrase from his beloved Xammar and didn’t hold back.

Translation: VilaWeb

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May 17: Spanish prosecutor's office demands that Supreme Court dictate new arrest warrant against three ministers in exile in Belgium (see below "Brussels shuts the door" to understand background).

May 17: Appeals division of the Spanish Supreme Court reconfirms the preventive detention of five Catalan ministers.

May 17: Quim Torra sworn in as Catalan president, in the presence only of parliament speaker Roger Torrent and members of his family. He refuses to wear the medal of the president, indication that he regards Carles Puigdemont as still the legitimate president. Swears loyalty to the parliament and people of Catalonia without mentioning the Spanish monarchy or constitution.

May 17: Two CUP councilors accused on participating in November 8 road blocks released without charges.

May 17: Albert Rivera (Citizens) demands that article 155 intervention not be suspended but extended to cover TV3 and the Catalan police and that control over Catalan government finances be tightened.

May 17: PP demands that speakership panel withdraw Toni Comin's right to delegate his vote now that he is no longer legally required to stay in Belgium.

May 17: Toni Comín (Catalunya Radio): "The Supreme Court shamelessly abuses a criminal code of which it should be the guardian."

May 17: Pedro Sánchez demands that elected officials being sworn in in the Spanish state have to swear loyalty to the monarchy and the Spanish Constitution.

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Analysis (Joan J. Queralt, El Nacional, May 17)

Brussels shuts the door--the Belgian refusal to extradite the exiled Catalan ministers explained

Joan J Queralt is professor of law at the University of Barcelona

Brussels shuts the door. To be more precise, Brussels public prosecutors have shut the door on delivering ministers Comín, Serret and Puig to Spanish justice.

In a filing in perfect Spanish, clear and didactic, far from the twisting baroque prose normal in Iberian law and which the Supreme Court cultivates with special zeal (as if there were a Nobel Prize for Legal Literature, often unintelligible), Brussels' prosecutors have argued before the competent court of the Kingdom of the Belgians that it cannot enforce the European Arrest Warrant issued by the Supreme Court investigating judge¹.

The reason: it doesn't correspond with the relevant law. Or equivalently, and said with all the professional courtesy you want, the request from the legal body that sits in Madrid's Las Salesas neighbourhood doesn't match the legal requirements of a European Arrest Warrant.

It's not, in my opinion, as some have said with certain excess haste, about a technical error. We're facing a lack of procedural substance which, although it could have been corrected, hasn't been despite the requests for more details to that effect from the Belgian prosecutors. Prosecutors who, as often happens in comparative law, have a dependence on the government, a limited one, but a dependence in the end all the same.

What's happened for the relevant prosecutors to say they cannot support the Spanish request? Well, something very simple: the European Arrest Warrant, as has been stated more than enough by European justice--the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg--isn't an independent order but rather the execution of an arrest warrant which already exists in the country of origin. It's necessary, in short, to have issued a prior national arrest warrant and then issue, if necessary, a European Arrest Warrant as an extension.

Here's the story:

1) The judge² of the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) court of instruction nº 3 issued a European Arrest Warrant dated November 3, 2017 against, among others, those now in exile in Brussels, a warrant based on five charges. This warrant was withdrawn by the investigating judge of the Supreme Court on December 5. On March 23 just past, the pre-trial proceedings [in the Supreme Court] concluded with indictments and the European Arrest Warrant was reactivated, but now for only three charges. However, its factual underpinning is broader than the previous warrant and with changed legal particulars. In other words, what is issued is a new European Arrest Warrant.

2) Following case law from the ECJ, a European Arrest Warrant isn't an independent legal measure, but requires the prior existence of an arrest warrant in the requesting country, in legal terms an underlying order. In other words, as emphasised by the Belgian prosecutors, if there's no prior national arrest warrant, in this case Spanish, the European Arrest Warrant is based on nothing.

3) The Belgian prosecutors explained this absence to the Supreme Court investigating judge [Llarena], who notes, in short, that the facts and partiulars are different to those established by the National High Court and that the new state of the matter is to be found in his indictment.

So far so good with the procedural chain. Given this, the Brussels prosecutors see no reason to proceed with the extradition, because no prior Spanish arrest warrant has been issued by the Supreme Court investigating judge.

Why did the investigating judge have to issue one? The reason is very simple: the arrest warrant (and subsequent European Arrest Warrant from the National High Court) was for five charges and some specific facts. Secondly, that European Arrest Warrant has been withdrawn. Thirdly, the Supreme Court indictment is for three charges: against two ministers for disobedience and misuse of public funds and against a third for misuse of public funds and rebellion; nothing to do with the facts, accusations and particulars brought by the National High Court.

Finally, the investigating judge of the Supreme Court responds to the Belgian court that the indictment is valid as an arrest warrant which, obviously, is neither true nor accepted by Brussels. Prosecutors from the capital of Europe conclude: "Given the absence of a corresponding national Spanish arrest warrant, the prosecution has asked the court to declare the three European Arrest Warrants irregular. (...) The delivery procedure has thus been declared unfounded."

Through ignorance or arrogance, Spanish justice has lost a decisive battle on the European front which, undoubtedly, will have repercussions for the extraditions pending in Scotland, Germany and Switzerland.

Moreover, an important event for the European project has taken place: the freedom of people subjected to a criminal procedure has to be guaranteed to the smallest detail, no ifs or buts. Without personal liberty in the face of the punitive power of the state, there's no public liberty. This is a lesson which the public powers have to learn and practice as if their lives depended on it. However, we have to ask ourselves why they haven't done so yet if we share, as Europeans, the same basic legal framework.

This basic legal framework doesn't allow for defects, nor exceptions, nor eccentricities like pursuing citizens for crimes which only exist in the mind of their pursuers. Pursuers, yes, equipped with power. However, it's doubtful that the pursuing powers will draw the clear democratic and legal consequences from today's events.

Brussels, once again, is Europe's Grand Place [of political and legal freedoms].

Footnotes

1. Pablo Llarena is the instructing judge in the Spanish Supreme Court.

2. Carmen Lamela, who was handling the case against the Catalan ministers before its was transferred to the Spanish Supreme Court and Llarena.

Translation: El Nacional, amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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May 16: (El Nacional) Quim Torra heads protest for seven-month anniversary of Jordis' imprisonment

May 16: Catalan Republic Twitter site launched, here.

May 16: Tonight's Barcelona rally demanding release of prisoners and return of exiles: "7 months without you. Neither prison nor exile, we want you home."

May 16: Spanish treasurer Cristóbal Montoro foresees ongoing oversight of the Catalan treasury as needed to prevent "illegal" funding of a Catalan diplomatic service of tax office.

May 16: PSOE's Pedro Sánchez announces that the party is working on a modification of the criminal code in order to express the carge of rebellion "in twenty-first century terms".

May 16: Belgian court rejects extradition of Com, Serret and Puig on grounds that the charges outlined in the European arrest warrant did not correspond to charges against them in Spanish courts. The Belgian prosecutor demanded that the arrest warrant not be complied with.

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NEW PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE
"Hey! Now I'm the Good Kim. This here is the Bad Quim."

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May 15: President of European Liberals (ALDE), Hans van Baalen to Torra: "Your rhetoric is racist and separatist".

May 15: Torra: "With Puigdemont, we've worked out the lines of action of the new executive."

May 15: Carlos Carrizosa (Citizens): "President Torra has already said that he won't abide by the law and that he wants to create unlawful institutions. So, given the evidence that he wants to continue with the coup d'etat begun by Puigdemont, Rajoy has to enforce abiding by the law."

May 15: Torra gives joint media conference with Carles Puigdemont in Berlin.

May 15: PSC: "Who's paying for Torra's trip to Berlin to see Puigdemont?"

May 15: Elisenda Alamany (CatECP): "Torra's leadership makes impossible any social majority in favour of change."

May 15: Sánchez:"Prime minister Rajoy has a duty to also meet with Pablo Iglesias and get him to change his mind on the right of self-determination and add him to the defence of the Constitution."

May 15: Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) agree a five-point joint strategic approach to new Catalan government: (1) Jointly agreed action "before any attempt at violating the constitutional order" (2) Rejection of any attempt to create parallel structures (3) Maintenance of Spanish state surveillance of the Catalan treasury (4) A united response by all supporters of the constitutional order before any threat to it (5)  “To make known abroad, especially in European institutions and society, that the xenophobic and supremacist writings of President Torra in no way represent the values and principles of Catalan society and are contrary to the European values defended by all European Union member states.”

May 15: Iceta (PSC): "I have the feeling that he [Torra] can't stand the Spanish. He puts up with Catalans who feel Spanish because he has no choice. Torra has been a fundamentalist conservative nationalist his whole career." Also: "He has books, attitudes and an admiration for the most recalcitrant sectors of nationalism. For a group called "Ourselves Alone" which was a detachment within Catalan State, but supremacist, separatist, ethnicist. You can choose whom you admire."

May 15: Torra: "Catalan is everyone who lives and works in Catalonia."

May 15: Torra, on Cataunya Radio: "We have to discover ourselves in the brotherhood of the Iberian peoples."

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May 14: Reaction of far-right web daily Alerta Digital to news of Torra's likely investiture (below).

 

"The CUP decides to abstain and give the green light to the investiture of the psychopath Quim Torra, Carles Puigdemont's little Catalan rent boy."

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May 14: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise of Catalonia (Pimec) calls on Torra to "take all steps necessary to end article 155 intervention."

May 14: Small and medium business umbrella Cecot (Terrassa Shires Employers Confederation) calls for rapid formation of government.

May 14: Unionist business umbrella Entrepreneurs of Catalonia hopes that Torra's presidency will not provoke a further "flight" of companies.

May 14: Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and Catalan business umbrella Development of National Labour call for stable, law-abiding government.

May 14: European Socialist Party: "Sad about the election of #TorraPresident. His racist remarks are utterly disgusting and cast deep doubts about his fitness for the job."

May 14: (El Nacional) Catalan referendum in human rights report by Council of Europe

May 14: Carles Riera (CUP spokesperson): "We are on maximum alert. Each time your program becomes that of a Spanish regional administration ['autonomic'], understand that you are betraying the popular mandate of October 1."

May 14: Quim Torra invested as 131st president of the Catalan government (Generalitat). See our coverage here.

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Background (El Nacional, May 14)

Serious mistake by security services complicates Spain's request for Puigdemont's extradition

A serious mistake by CNI (the Spanish intelligence agency) is further complicating the extradition warrant issued by Spain to Germany for the Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont. According to Spanish online newspaper El Independiente, "an excess of euphoria and the need to chalk up a triumph" meant the CNI themselves, as well as the Spanish government, revealed their participation in tracking Puigdemont and the choice of Germany as the country where the arrest would take place. The newspaper reports that this has made the judges in Schleswig-Holstein uncomfortable, feeling they were being used by the Spanish authorities.

"That morning, details of the operation started to leak from the Comisaría General de Información and the CNI: around 20 agents took part, 12 of them members of the secret services; the car Puigdemont was travelling in with four others at the moment of his arrest (a Renault Espace with Belgian licence plate) had been fitted with a beacon; a geolocation device in the mobile of one of the ex-president's companions was used to monitor the vehicle's journey through 4 countries at all times; it was even said that CNI agents were present at the arrest by German police," El Independiente writes.

According to this account, there are problems with the legality of the CNI's actions on foreign territory without legal orders. The Belgian courts have already opened an investigation into this question. A second problem is that it was taken for granted that Germany would extradite Puigdemont, that it would be easy in comparison to Belgium or the United Kingdom. All of this has caused unease among the German judges.

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Week ending May 13

Free the political prisoners!

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May 13: CUP Political Council decides to maintain abstention on the investiture of Quim Torra, guaranteeing that it will happen tomorrow, by 66 votes to 65 (only a relative majority is needed in the second session).

May 13: PSOE deputy federal secretary Adriana Lastra calls on Quim Torra to "lay aside the xenophobia and govern for all Catalans".

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Opinion (Toni Soler, Ara, May 12)

The inevitable conflict

For an effective and republican Government capable of dialogue.  For a calm, fighting and competent Government

CITIZENS. We're heading towards conflict. Maybe there will be a Government, but we can't pretend that nothing has changed while there are people in jail and exile, and while self-rule is suspended. The 155 bloc--the PP, Citizens and the PSOE--is playing with fire, and some lucid minds inside this universe, people who love Spain, can see that and they fear it. If they continue to use Catalonia as an electoral firecracker, it means countdown to constitutional crisis. But since the PP is in a state of decomposition and the PSOE is in a coma, Albert Rivera's yelling easily predominates and drowns out any nuanced opinion. Citizens is the party of testosterone and "Go, get 'em"¹. They are behaving like the National Front in France and the Serbs towards the new Balkan republics. It appears that in Spain this benefits them, which shows the depth of depression that Spain has reached; but in Catalonia their threatening and permanently irritated tone marks a ceiling and distances them from the country's centre of political gravity, which is more or less Spanish, but above all is deeply Catalan. Inés Arrimadas could have tried to win the moderate vote, but she preferred to be the Princess of Tabàrnia², decorate Civil Guards, finger teachers and despise collective symbols, that is, hand them over to the supporters of Catalan sovereignty. Citizens' only motor force is the destruction of the Catalan national personality. That is, they will only get to power in Catalonia along the path of repression, as is now happening to the PP of [Spanish government delegate in Catalonia] Enric Millo.

DIALOGUE The good news is that Citizens will hardly be able to govern Catalonia. The bad news is that while Citizens have the strength they have, any attempt at internal dialogue seems doomed to failure. You can't talk to those who want you in jail. However, the truth is that there are other obstacles to dialogue. The identity crisis of the PSC, which only acts in function of what Citizens does, and the perpetual indefinition of the Commons are aggravated by the fact that the pro-sovereignty bloc has chosen a presidential candidate who only believes in dialogue within his own camp. Quim Torra, whom I would say is a good person and a cultured human being, also represents a romantic nationalism that can inspire the heartland but will hardly scrape together new votes for the republican cause. And that's apart from the fact that Torra has personally taken on the delegated and provisional character of his presidency, which indicates that--if the CUP so wishes--we will face another interim period, with more than one possible outcome in the autumn, when the trial of Catalan political prisoners takes place.

DISTRACTION Although Torra has talked about implementing the result of October 1, it would be good if everyone realised that at the moment there will be no Republic or pre-Republic. If the Catalan government was already clear on October 27 that it didn't have the tools to carry out effective acts of sovereignty, even less will it be able to do so now, after six months of 155. What there will be is conflict, not so much because of the strategy of the pro-independence parties as because the Spanish government has decided that repressing and locking up dissidents wins votes, while giving the Catalan people a voice, as on December 21, only brings grief; and that as long as this sad spectacle lasts, Spaniards will hang flags from their the balconies, as if they had heroically defeated a foreign enemy and will not pay attention to other problems of the State, which are many and very serious. General Primo de Rivera³ did the same thing in 1925. On that occasion, however, the Moroccans were the distraction.

Footnotes

1. "Go, get 'em" was the cry shouted by Spanish-patriotic ultras to Civil Guard vehicles as they left their barracks on the way to Catalonia to try to suppress the October 1 referendum.

2. Tabàrnia is a mythical entity concocted by the extreme end of unionism, made up of those two Catalan provinces (Tarragona plus Barcelona) where the unionist vote exceeded the pro-independence vote on December 21.

3. In 1925, the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera conducted a successful  joint invasion with the French of the Berber-speaking Rif region of northern Morocco. The Spanish were motivated by the desire to revenge their humiliating loss to the forces of rebel leader Abd el-Krim in the 1920 Rif War. More detail here.

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May 12: Investiture vote: In favour 66 (JxCat, ERC); Against 65 (Citizens, PSC, CatECP, PP) 65; Abstentions 4 (CUP). The motion is lost because there is no absolute majority. Nex session is on Monday, May 14.

May 12: Puigdemont tells Turin daily La Stampa that Quim Torra will call early elections on October 27 if there is no progress in negotiations with the Spanish government.

May 12: Albert Rivera (Citizens): "Torra's speech reveals he will not abide by the Constitution. Article 155 cannot be suspended."

May 12: Points form Torra's investiture address here

May 12: Quim Torra delivers investiture address to Catalan parliament.

May 12: 88.54% of Democrats' members support the investing of Quim Torra.

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Letter from prison (Carme Forcadell and Dolors Bassa)

Thank you for always being there!

Madrid. Sunday, 6 May 2018

It is over a month since we returned to the prison of Alcalá-Meco. The fact that they have us here, deprived of freedom between grey walls, under obsolete and absurd rules, has one effect that is worse than others: the constant sensation and feeling of being far away from everything that we love most: our family, our friends, “our own landscape”, the habits and cultures of our country... We miss everything! But, recently with the day of Sant Jordi, a celebration that fills people with joy, a shared day which has deep roots in our country, you made it come alive for us through your words and paper roses, which you sent us in letters.

The letters that we receive daily are our connection with reality. They are what gives us a breath of fresh air. We want to tell you that we read them all (every day we each receive around a hundred) and, even though we would like to be able to answer you, it is impossible for us. For that reason we take the opportunity here to thank you for the support and the warmth which you ensure reaches us, which gives us courage and helps us to stay strong.

In the absence of freedom we try to live with the maximum dignity possible.

Our daily routine is monotonous, the hours go by very slowly. In fact, there is no difference between one day and the next, and for that reason the news that we receive by mail is important. We thank the media that thinks of us: El Punt Avui, Ara, El Nacional, VilaWeb, El Temps, local magazines and articles that you send us in your letters. In fact, we are only permitted three activities: reading (books that our families give us in the monthly package or classics from a small prison library) and writing, taking physical exercise (one hour three days per week, organized by a prisoner) and walking in the prison yard.

We maintain our hope as well as our confidence in you. We know that you will find a solution for this unjust situation.

Often, our suffering goes beyond the personal. We believe that the lives of our families have been deeply affected ― both of us have elderly mothers ― as well as the lives of our colleagues; but also the lives of a great many people in our country.

In this last week we have made statements to the judge and were clear in our convictions: the defence of the popular mandate from the Catalan elections of 2015, of the sovereignty of the Catalan Parliament, of ideological and political freedoms, and the freedom of expression. We believe that our right to a defence is harmed by the inability of our lawyers to take part in parallel legal processes that contribute to the general case, and that it is abusive that we have been placed in preventive detention, without any change in either the alleged offence we are accused of, or the conditions, for which the same judge decreed bail for us, just a few months earlier.

We are convinced that all of this is about democracy. For that reason we are grateful for the many shows of support which we know are taking place all around, from associations, entities, political groups and individuals. We ask you that you do not forget the political prisoners, that you do not forget those of us who are in prison and in exile, that you work to put an end to the implementation of article 155, to improve social cohesion and the lives of the people who live in Catalonia. Our dignity is the dignity of you all!

Thank you for always being there!

Carme Forcadell and Dolors Bassa

Carme Forcadell, speaker of the Catalan Parliament from 2015 until after the 2017 election, and Dolors Bassa, Catalan labour minister, are being held in the Spanish prison of Alcalá-Meco on remand, facing charges relating to the Catalan campaign for independence and the referendum held on October 1st, 2017.

Translation: El Nacional

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May 11: Citizens. "A government elected with the vote of two fugitives from justice is a fraud."

May 11: Rapper Valtonyc loses Constitutional Court appeal against his three-and-a-half year prison sentence for glorification of terrorism and insulting the crown.

May 11: PP in Catalonia agains demands of the Constitutional Court that it suspend the right of Puigdemont and Comín to delegate their vote.

May 11: Inés Arrimades (Citizens) on Torra: "The most radical Puigdemont could find and the only one prepared to be a puppet."

May 11: José Luis Ábalos (PSOE): "Torra should be reprogrammed if he is to serve as Catalan president."

May 11: Iñigo Méndez de Vigo (Spanish government spokesperson): "If the law is disobeyed, we will act in exactly the same way."

May 11: Latest Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO) report released in Catalonia. English summary here. Polling predictions below (figures on grey background are the December 21 election results):

Main trends:

• Pro-independence majority increases
• CUP support nearly triples
• CCP (CatECP) support increases
• Citizens remains leading party

May 11: Joaquin Leguina (ex-PSOE premier of Community of Madrid) tells TV Antena 3 that Quim Torra is an "imbecile" and a "moron" and that the Spanish state's article 155 intervention into Catalonia should be maintained.

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Background (Marta Escobar Martí, El Nacional, May 11)

Spanish press alarmed, sees candidate Quim Torra as Puigdemont's "puppet"

New alarm (and anger) in the Madrid newspapers. Carles Puigdemont's proposal of Quim Torra as the new candidate for president of Catalonia hasn't satisfied them either. Today, they're full of criticism and disapproval towards the president's nominee.

So, despite being visibly satisfied it has proved impossible to invest Puigdemont, they give the new candidate a warning that the state will continue working for the law to be followed and, if that doesn't happen, it will continue acting as until now.

The most curious thing is that some of the newspapers even argue that Torra started the independence process, thanks to comments he made in 2014, pushing them to an even more resounding rejection of the candidate.

For all these reasons, they warn that it is unlikely, for the moment, that the PP government in Madrid will lift article 155 of the Spanish Constitution because, they say, everything suggests the situation in Catalonia will continue in the same vein.

La Razón, under the headline "a puppet for confrontation", attacks Puigdemont's decision as being "awful news for the future political and institutional stability of the Principality" and, moreover, despite him not being pursued by the justice system, they believe that the "choice shows the desire of Catalan separatism to maintain the confrontation with the state".

Using a handful of 2012 tweets from Torra, which included derogatory allusions to "the Spanish", the paper says that the candidacy "takes us to the worst examples of the fanaticism and radicalism of the independence movement, bordering on xenophobic obsession, which, unfortunately, have caused the painful social fracture in the region itself".

They believe, the "political role he will doubtless be called upon to play" will be one of "subordination to Puigdemont". Moreover, they suggest that it is "a provisional solution which can only hide the piratical intention of putting an end to the legislature when convenient for the personal interests of the fled leader" and urge readers to "not forget his black criminal outlook".

In fact, their front page opens with the headline "Puigdemont anoints 'puppet' Torra to repeat elections", but, at the same time, they argue that "Puigdemont aims, like anyone handling a puppet, to maintain the fiction of a government in exile which, moreover, and this is the most absurd, governs the fates of Catalonia".

la-razon.jpeg

But their frustration goes even further, criticising that his candidacy "means shutting the door on and scorning the offers of dialogue and collaboration from the [Spanish] prime minister, Mariano Rajoy" and, worse still, they even get into his "psychological profile".

At the end of the editorial, they do appear slightly relieved, due to the impossibility of investing Puigdemont. This shows, they say, that "the rule of law and respect for the constitutional order have returned to the region". They, however, warn that "the state will continue to safeguard the rights and interests of all Catalans. Of that we do have reasons to be sure".

El Español, which suggests that "Puigdemont is putting up a puppet so that Rajoy deceives himself", defines Torra as a "radical" who "believes that Catalonia has been a country occupied by the Spanish since 1714". They believe his election will mean that "the problem of independence is not only not going to fall away, but will doubtlessly earn a new, folkloric momentum".

But they go further still. They define the candidate as a "hand-picked choice of a banana-republic caudillo" and say that "the Catalan anomaly keeps growing unstoppably". For them, this is "another provocation which confirms the erroneous policy" of Mariano Rajoy's government. Caudillo, a word for "leader" normally used for strongmen, was the title the dictator Franco took for himself.

At this point, they turn to attacking the PP executive. "Puigdemont is showing his strength whilst Rajoy gives unequivocal signs of certain weakness" and "Rajoy's ability to deceive himself appears to have no limit".

el-espanol.jpeg

At the end of the article, they link Torra with the start of the independence process for statements he made in 2014 when director of Born Cultural Centre. That year, he organised events to "commemorate and manipulate the tricentennial of 1714", which saw the fall of Barcelona and the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. He said that since that time, Catalans "have been living under occupation". "It was around this display, which pontificated on the Spanish invasion, that the current separatist process gestated".

They also side with Cs' leader, Albert Rivera, supporting him in his call for a harder line to be taken with Catalonia. Precisely for that reason, they say "it's more than probable that after this new nonsense he will increase if possible his pressure on the executive to continue and toughen up as necessary an [article] 155 which so far, it's obvious, hasn't achieved the aims it should have pursued".

Like the other two papers, El Mundo opens its front page with the nomination of Torra who, like the rest, they see as a "puppet for [Puigdemont] to continue with his rebellion" and "continue the duel", "aware that the continuation of the conflict with the state is the only trump card which is still saving him from irrelevance".

Describing Torra as a "separatist of certified fanaticism" and "Puigdemont's alter ego, as radical as him", they attack the legitimate president for "aiming with this choice to settle a puppet in the presidency of Catalonia, a figure who can be controlled at a distance, who meekly submits to the will of the unrepentant fugitive in Berlin".

With all these arguments under their arm, the paper says that Torra's candidacy "raises serious doubts about the advisability of lifting [article] 155; after a foreseeable government completely remote-controlled by Puigdemont, who yesterday passed on the mandate to implement the republic declared in October".

el-mundo.jpeg

In another article, El Mundo defines Torra as the "most hooligan option" and, like La Razón, uses his 2012 tweets for further attacks against him.

For El País, which didn't dedicate either its whole front page nor editorial to the question, Torra, who has had a "meteoric political career" and "exquisite manners in person", warn that, despite this, he has "strong pro-independence convictions", which, as they see it, "turns him into almost a professional substitute; almost against his will".

In fact, they repeat this point on various occasions during their profile of the candidate: "those who know him talk about an educated personality, with a hint of something British about him, and that he knows how to listen, even though he's intransigent when it comes to his pro-independence convictions".

el-pais.jpeg

In another article, they say that "although Torra is part of Puigdemont's trusted inner circle, he will lead a group of ministers which he hasn't chosen".

ABC, for their part, call Torra a "front man" because, in their opinion, "the ex-president is resisting disappearing and has designated one of his faithful, a radical independence supporter", although they argue that "there's no doubt that political reality will end up cornering the ex-president". In fact, one of their greatest worries is "how many weeks or months it will take for that to happen".

Meanwhile, they also express lament that "with the will of the pro-independence parties hijacked by the stubbornness of the fugitive ex-president in not disappearing politically, the theoretical and apparent return to normality of political life which should be starting up is holding off".

abc.jpeg

In another article, they define him as the "real deal of the independence movement". None of the newspapers mentioned above liked the proposal, certain that "the disobedience is going to continue". It would be interesting to see what they would have said for some other candidate, as the same arguments go for almost any other JxCat deputy.

Translation: El Nacional

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May 10: Carles Puigdemont announces that editor, and essayist Quim Torra will be JxCat's candidate for president.

May 10: Parents of children at El  Palau high school hold public meeting denouncing interference of courts and unionist politicians and call for the school to be left alone to work through any problems it may have (below).

Missing image.

May 10: Five of the nine cases against the teachers of El Palau high school being investigated for "hate crime" for talking in class about the October 1 police attacks at their school are shelved.

May 10: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena indicates that he is prepared to downgrade charge of rebellion against Puigdemont and other suspects in exile if this is needed to secure their extradition.

May 10: Amnesty Internationsal says that the Spanish interior ministry is blocking judicial inquiries into police behaviour on October 1.

May 10: Joan Tardà (ERC MP in Spanish congress): "Mr Rivera has become a fanatic. Every day that passes he sounds more like [Falange leader] José Antonio Primo de Rivera."

May 10: Albert Rivera (Citizens): "Even if a Catalan government is formed not enough has been done to allow the lifting of the article 155 intervention."

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Opinion (Ferran Saez Matheu, Ara, May 10)

ETA's last attack

To compare moving prisoners closer to home to "the impunity" of terrorist acts is to hit rock bottom

On October 20, 2011, when ETA announced the definitive end of its "armed activity", the argumentative resources of the 1978 regime began to totter. From the perspective of the Spanish State —and it's important to remember that the Spanish State consists of three things, three: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches—, the possibility of appealing to the exceptional situation created by the existence of that terrorist group lost its meaning. "In the absence of violence, anything can be discussed", went the famous mantra coined during the worst moments of the Spanish transition. Yeah, right. For the Catalan independence movement, the end of ETA was great news for two reasons. The first, shared with any morally decent person, had to do with the end of the barbarism of car bombs, kidnappings, and shots to the back of the head. The second, of course, referred to the aforementioned mantra: in a democracy, in the absence of violence anything can be discussed.

At that moment —October 2011— Catalonia’s independence process took off strongly. July saw an unexpectedly massive demonstration against the 2010 ruling on the Statue, followed by the most openly pro-independence Diada demonstration in September. The political effervescence in Catalonia was evident, and this did not exactly play in favor of the unionist camp, which was left disoriented. A party like UPyD, for example, ended up out of the game completely. Born out of the Basta Ya (Enough Already) platform, its dialectic vehemence, overacted by Rosa Díez, became merely strident cries, empty of content, that no longer interested anyone. As incredible as it may seem, the news of the cessation of ETA's terrorist actions was received almost with hostility. In some cases, this was predictable: certain private security companies with links to important PP office holders watched as their enormous business expectations vanished into thin air. In other cases, however, the reaction was more enigmatic.

Naturally, it wasn't about praising ETA because they stopped killing, but rather celebrating that thousands of people who lived permanently with their hearts in their throats now had the chance to live a safe life. To confuse these two things, which had nothing to do with each other, out of personal/political interest, showed the bald-faced manipulation that the Spanish government has made of the various terrorism victims associations, and also of the citizenry as a whole. But it doesn't end there. To compare moving prisoners closer to their homes to "the impunity" of terrorist acts is to hit rock bottom. As far as I know, nobody had suggested any massive release of prisoners or anything like it. A person with blood crimes, as I see it, must serve a full sentence; but this should not include punishing their families [with long journeys for visitation purposes].

A few days ago, when ETA was definitively dissolved, many PP leaders reacted in an even more disconcerting way than in 2011. It appeared as if the terrorist group had just committed its latest attack, the worst in its history. Neither Rajoy nor any member of his administration were under any obligation to congratulate them for putting an end to their wrongdoing. It's a long way, however, from that to showing a disappointed expression, clearly out of sorts. ETA represented an archaic thing that, in addition to having caused great suffering, distorted Spanish political life by legitimizing institutional anomalies —without any equivalent in Europe— such as the National Court. Article 24.2 of the Spanish Constitution states that "everyone has the right to the ordinary judge predetermined by law". The existence of the National Court (the old Franco-era Court of Public Order) clearly contradicts this point. ETA's indiscriminate violence, for example, could justify this exception. What about after it has ceased to exist? Will everything continue the same? Will we fabricate a threat just to maintain what justified it in its place?

Beyond the concrete question that we just discussed, the absurd refusal to recognize that ETA no longer exists has a lot to do with the need to transform a peaceful political process such as Catalonia’s into a violent rebellion. The old language associated with the "anni di piombo” [“years of lead”] allows for delirious transpositions of one thing for another to be carried out with cynical joy. ETA's last great attack —its own dissolution— has not caused any casualties, nor injuries, nor property damage, but it has shattered an established line of argument and called its language into question. In the increasingly strange "news programs" of TVE, the news of ETA's demise was presented almost as an event worthy of mourning, with bitter statements from the increasingly unified PP-PSOE-Ciudadanos bloc. My condolences.

Translation: Ara

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May 9: Jean-Claude Juncker (president, European Commission) to Flemish parliament: "I would like to see dialogue" between Spanish and Catalan governments and urges for this to happen.

May 9: Ramon Tremosa (MEP for PDECat) says the Dalai Lama showed "great sensitivity" to the Catalan situation at a meeting of the European Parliament's Intergroup with Tibet in India.

May 9: Spanish government appeals amended Catalan presidential investiture legislation to the Constitutional Court, which suspends legislation while appeal is being heard.

May 9: Vox demands the arrest and charging of the majority of members of the Catalan parliament's speakership panel for allowing the parliament to change the law governing the investing of the president.

May 9: Albert Rivera (Citizens) demands that the Rajopy government appeal against the right to delegate their vote of Toni Comin and Carles Puigdemont.

May 9: European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker says he is disposed to meet with new president of Catalonia "if asked" and "depending on the topic to be discussed".

May 9: Carles Riera (CUP): "The decision of JxCat and ERC to give up on disobedience is a decision we don't share."

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Snapshot (Xavier Bertral, Ara, May 9)

Badalona judge forces bride to remove a badge calling for freedom for political prisoners

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The judge refused to conduct the ceremony until she complied. The couple plan to lodge an official complaint

A judge in the Catalan city of Badalona refused to proceed with a wedding ceremony unless the brideg removed from her jacket a badge calling for the release of political prisoners.

Nora, the woman in question, appeared this Tuesday on El Matí de Catalunya Ràdio, following a report in yesterday’s El Mundo newspaper. Nora was critical of the judge for making such a demand a condition for the wedding to go ahead. "As soon as I sat down with the witnesses, the judge announced that the service was for everyone and that it had to be neutral. So I told him that if he provided the service to everyone, then that included me too", she declared.

According to the bride, the judge gave her "no choice", despite the fact that she and the groom both noticed that "there was also a portrait of the Bourbon [King Felipe] on the wall", and that "we hadn’t made a fuss". According to the woman, the judge argued his case by stating that if the badge had belonged to an organisation with an opposing view, "such as the PP or Vox", he would also have asked her to remove it. Apparently, her claim that the badge did not represent a specific political party, but was instead an expression of freedom, failed to make the judge change his mind.

Nora declared that, eventually, having argued with the judge for a while, she decided to remove the jacket bearing the badge in order that the ceremony could go ahead. The couple has already contacted legal teams in order to file a complaint.

Translation: Ara

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May 8: Belgian police conclude that the positioning device found on Carles Puigdemont's car was of Spanish origin.

May 8: Spanish Secretaries of State for Security and Education meet with Civil Guard parents who claim their children attending El Palau high school in Sant Andreu de la Barca were subjected to "indoctrination" after the October 1 referendum.

May 8: Speaker of the Spanish senate prevents new Catalan senators from taking the oath in Catalan.

May 8: Spanish Constitutional Court rejects provisional suspension of Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín's right as MPs to delegate their vote while it studies Citizens' appeal for suspension of this right.

May 8: Citizens asks the Audit Commission of the Spanish Congress to audit the accounts of the Catalan government so as to detect if any Catalan government funds were spent on the October 1 referendum.

May 8: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena unable to supply German courts with material proving misuse of public funds by Carles Puigdemont.

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May 7: PSC in Badalona joins Citizens and PP to defeat budget of mayoress Dolors Sabater.

May 7: CUP spokeperson Carles Riera argues at "Horizon Republic" seminar that broadening base of support for the Republic is compatible with advancing towards independence.

May 7: PP and Citizens demand that the Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó, explain to the parliament's ombudsman's commission his intervention in the case of El Palau high school teachers being investigated for "hate crimes".

May 7: Politechnic University of Madrid bans former Catalan premier Artur Mas from using its facilities to hold conference on Catalonia's future.

May 7: Spanish Council of State unanimously backs legality of Spanish government appeal against Catalan law allowing investiture of a president in absentia.

May 7: Iñigo Urkullu (premier, Euskadi): "It is unrealistic to maintain the candidacy of Puigdemont."

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Week ending May 6

195 nights with political prisoners

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Background (Laia Vicens, Ara, May 6)

Catalonia’s Ombudsman: some indoctrination complaints are “phoney and inconsistent”

Rafael Ribó claims it is “normal and necessary” for students to discuss current political events in class

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Catalonia’s Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, warned on Monday that some of the complaints which Spain’s Education Ministry is currently investigating —following reports of alleged indoctrination of schoolchildren by teachers in Catalonia— are “phoney, inconsistent and extemporary”. Last week the ministry disclosed that it had made three formal inquiries concerning a total of 54 specific incidents in 48 different Catalan schools, according to the Ombudsman. In addition, Ribó has received nine complaints, twenty-one information requests and has launched two probes into the incidents, even though only six of them include specific details that might allow the cases to be verified. In total, there are 87 recorded incidents involving 53 schools in Catalonia. Ribó noted that only one teacher has admitted to having made derogatory remarks and he has apologised to his students.

At a press conference, the Ombudsman mentioned “indirect” complaints by “unnamed” individuals and others who “do not live in Catalonia”. “I find it surprising that the authorities have not looked into these cases”, he stated. In fact, he claimed that after reviewing all the textbooks (AMES, a teachers’ union, complained that course books were being used to indoctrinate children), the Ombudsman has found “no evidence of indoctrination in them”. “I speak with the rigour required by the institution I represent”, he stressed.

On this point, Ribó noted that even though teachers are “scared”, it would be “a mistake” to avoid class discussions about the political situation in Catalonia. Ribó added that “it is normal and necessary to discuss the political situation in Catalonia” because, he said, “schooling is about citizenship education”.

On the subject of the controversy surrounding the nine teachers in a Sant Andreu de la Barca school who are currently being investigated by the Public Prosecutor for hate crimes after they allegedly ”humiliated” the children of Guardia Civil officers, Ribó condemned the “lack of impartiality” of the prosecutor’s probe because it is only examining the version of the complainants and not that of the teachers involved. The Ombudsman underscored this case because he has repeatedly decried the fact that complaints have not been made through the usual channels (with the school principal or the inspection service), but instead a criminal lawsuit has been filed in order to resolve the matter. Ribó stressed that “the only way to solve conflicts is through the education community, not in a criminal court of law”.

Therefore, he urged Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and the parliamentary leaders in Madrid and Barcelona to address these issues “within the education community”.

Translation: Ara

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May 6: Democrats (pro-independence christian democrats with two positions in the ERC caucus) to ask survey membership as to position on investing a presidential candidate other than Puigdemont.

May 6: Unionist "Resistance and Defence Groups" announce campaign to clean the streets of yellow ribbons (below).

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Opinion (Raül Romeva, Ara, May 3)

Now let us resume political action

Resistance, despite being ethically necessary, will not by itself move us forward

October 1st was a historic event that marked an irreversible turning point. But now, after Article 155 and the December 21st elections, the independence movement must be intelligent, pragmatic, and generous. The discrepancy between realists and legitimists lacks practical and strategic sense; it simply responds to tactical debates that go nowhere, and brings us no closer to our shared goals.

The pro-sovereignty parties, in the worst of circumstances, decided to participate in imposed elections, and they won. Nevertheless, since that victory, what has prevailed has, in large part, been a position of resistance against the growing authoritarianism of the State, which refuses to accept its defeat. But resistance, despite being ethically necessary and giving dignity to our claims, will not by itself move us forward.

We must reverse this position and re-take the initiative. It is essential for us to recover a attitude focused on making propositions, and to present political alternatives in opposition to the current repressive scenario, built on the abuse of accusations of terrorism and rebellion and the perversion of legal principles such as hate crimes. Now is not the time for mere resistance, but for openly, publicly, and constantly proposing the need for a strengthening of democracy and consolidation of liberties.

A share of this work falls on every one of us. Some will be deprived of freedom, as evidence of Spain’s democratic shortfalls. Others, in exile, will be the voices bearing witness to the world of what is happening here and what we desire for our future. And many, in civil society, with their well-established persistence and non-violence, will make the unsustainability of the current situation clear. However, perhaps the most urgent task that we can undertake together is that of knowing how to connect with our fellow citizens who, so far, have shown disagreement, fear, or indifference towards the Republican project. We are often accused of divisiveness, but the only true rift can be found between those who defend our ideas democratically and peacefully and those who accept that their ends justify any means.

The first group, the democrats and pacifists, are a vast majority and we must have the determination and empathy to create a broad-based consensus among all those people, spaces, organizations, and parties that recognize this. This is the core majority that, in a moment as crucial as this, we must know how to articulate. Only if we show this ability to reach an understanding with those with whom we share a majority of principles can we undertake the obligation of establishing a constructive dialogue, also with those who celebrate, today, that we are imprisoned. It is an essential duty for a nation that hopes to have a future, as in our case.

My fellow representatives, we must also take stock of where we are, what assets we have, and which strategy will bring us closer to our goal. We have an absolute majority in Parliament, an immense municipal strength, a proven popular ability to stand up to repression, and untiring civic activism. Our parliamentary majority must move from declarations to institutional action. The tactic of shining the spotlight on authoritarianism is no more important than the strategy of preventing the hollowing out of Catalan institutions. We need every possible space of representation, both civic and governmental. Legitimism and pragmatism are not divergent strategies, but complementary.

We need, therefore, determination in the face of repression, republican will, social organization, and institutions that remind everyone that in Catalonia there is a pro-sovereignty government with a majority support. It is essential, every day and from all fronts (prison, exile, institutions, and civil society), to point out abnormalities, denounce indiscriminate attacks and abuses, explain that the unshakeable goal is the Republic, understood as an instrument to guarantee a better future for each and every one of the 7.5 million citizens of this nation.

Our legitimacy has only one source: our growing, sustained, and internationally recognized social and electoral support. The next opportunity to strengthen this legitimacy, and the broad-based support that we need, will be at the municipal level. But to achieve this we must govern, as the democratic majority wishes, and prove that our republican horizon is the best option for the future of us all. Only in this way, working every day in the streets, with humility and perseverance, will we be able to build and open new scenarios for Catalonia.

Translation: Ara

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May 5: Results of meeting of JxCat MPs with Puigdemont in Berlin. (1) Seek to invest Puigdemont as president before May 14; (2) If this proves impossible because of a Spanish government appeal to the Constitutional Court, seek again to invest Jordi Sànchez; (3) If this is again blocked by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, provide another candidate for investiture before the May 22 deadline for avoiding new elections.

May 5: ANC internal membership survey (with 10,000, about quarter of the membership, taking part) shows 80% in favour of maintaining Carles Puigdemont as president. If the pro-independence parties decide this is impossible because of Spanish state pressures, 57% support finding another candidate (and thus avoiding elections).

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May 4: PDECat leadership says it is prepared to entertain changes but demands loyalty from its critics.

May 4: Elin Jones, speaker of the National Assembly of Wales, hands its resolution in defence of Catalan institutions to Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent.

May 4: Catalan parliament adopts resolution in defence of civil and political rights [in defence of CDRs]. In favour 78 (JxCat, ERC, CUP, CatECP); Against 56 (Citizens, PSC, PP).

May 4: Catalan parliament adopts amendment to law governing the investiture of the president to allow investiture in absentia. In favour 70 (JxCat, ERC, CUP); Against 64 (Citizens, PSC, CatECP, PP).

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Backgrounder: Gisela Rodríguez (El Nacional, May 4)

The Catalan school where nine teachers are accused of a hate crime

It's 9am, Thursday 3rd May, and today's an open day at IES El Palau, a secondary school in Sant Andreu de la Barca, near Barcelona. The building is clean, gone is the graffiti accusing nine teachers of being separatists and nazis. The teachers in question are under investigation for alleged hate crimes having, according to prosecutors, "humiliated" students at the school who are children of Civil Guard gendarmes the day after the Catalan referendum on 1st October last year. A new coat of paint covers the graffiti, but if you go right up to the right place you can still see a hint of the insults. It's a large school, 1,200 students, and just along from the largest Civil Guard building in Catalonia: 120 paces separate the headquarters from the school. And some forty families of  the militarised police, of the 200 which live in the barracks, take their children there.

It's a day like any other. At this time the students are in the middle of changing class. One student is asking the caretakers for paper, a group of students don't know which classroom they have to go to and a father is waiting for his daughter. A teacher kisses a student goodbye on the cheek: "Come on, go to class". The girl's friend gets annoyed: "Miss, you never give me a kiss". "It's that you don't deserve it", says the teacher, laughing. Nobody would guess that IES El Palau is in the eye of a storm after prosecutors decided to investigate nine of its teachers for having "singled out the children of civil guards", for having called the police "animals". Nobody would guess that nine teachers appeared with their full names and photographs in the newspaper El Mundo

The hundred-or-so teachers who work at the school don't want to know anything about journalists: "everything is normal here, like always", they repeat like a mantra. Only one teacher, whom I catch before she goes in says "how do you want us to be? Very bad. But sorry, we can't talk about it", she says, quickly stubbing out a cigarette.

I ask to speak with the headteacher and the head of studies. They note the request down, but warn me no one will get back to me.

Leaving school, Maria (not her real name, all of the minors in this article have been given fake names), tells me that "it's all a lie". "Our teacher is one of those who was reported. That day she said she didn't have the heart to teach, that she was very saddened by what had happened the day before, but that's it, she didn't have a go at the kids of the civil guards, nor the police". At the school, Civil Guard agents pushed and hit members of the public who had formed a human chain out of the way as they tried to confiscate ballot boxes. She believes "it's not fair" everything that's happening: "it's been months since we saw our teacher, they've told us she's out with depression. I'm very sad about it". Maria tells me that the class has decided to not talk about the topic.

Cristina, 16 years old, says the same thing: "we want to be like normal, fine, without any problems. We don't talk about it and if the teachers hear us talk about politics, the process or independence, they make us shut up. You go to school to study, they tell us".

Her friend, Adrià, is 17. He says he's going out with the daughter of one of the civil guards who reported the teachers. "I prefer to not talk about this topic and between us we don't talk about it either. [My girlfriend] still goes to class and the teacher being investigated too and despite the bad atmosphere it seems there should have to be, they have a normal relationship".

"It can't be easy," I say. "Yeah... I don't know... we skip over the topic. We've got other things to do".

Jordi, studying a vocational course, says that the teachers are scared. "They don't want to say anything related to the 1st October, nor politics, nor the Civil Guard, because they could be punished for anything". He says he's pro-independence and expresses doubt that any professor "would single out a student for being the child of a Civil Guard".

Spanish and Catalan anthems in class

Among the dozens of students it's easy to make out those who live in the barracks: they're the only ones who cross the avenue and turn onto carrer Empordà. I stop to speak with a small group. They're 14, 15 and 16. They tell me the teachers under investigation "are good people, they're normal" and that "it's all grown quite big". One of them, Toni, says that that day his teacher told them there was going to be a demonstration on the playground. He told them that those who were against the police violence could go to take part and those who were in favour of it should stay in the classroom. "Those of us who are children of police officers stayed, for our parents... My family hasn't reported it because only that happened and that's it".

"So, in my class, there's a very bad atmosphere", says Ester, daughter of a civil guard and wearing a wristband in the colours of the senyera, the Catalan flag, because she feels "very Catalan". "It's because your class is very dodgy", her friends tell her. She tells me that two groups have formed in the classroom: "some play the Spanish anthem and others Els Segadors [the Catalan anthem]; some are [saying] 'visca Puigdemont' all day and the others 'viva España'", she tells me angrily. They want it all to be over, for everything to return to how it was before, for people to stop talking about their school.

The atmosphere at the school has been strained since the 1st October, but the situation has got worse since the announcement by prosecutors they would report against 9 teachers for having created a "climate of hostility" in class towards the children of Civil Guard, criticising the police attacks for preventing the referendum and describing the agents as "animals" and "rabid dogs". There are two investigations open into what happened at the school, which prosecutors asked on Thursday to be combined into a single case. A court in Martorell had earlier split it into the two as the teachers' comments came on two different days: one of them on 20th October, the other eight, on the 2nd. Prosecutors believe the case has to be treated as a whole because the one action can't be understood without the others. 

Close to the school is a bar, also called El Palau. With a latte in hand I meet Cecília Pérez and Maria Oller, 61 and 58 years old respectively, who have lived their "whole lives" in the neighbourhood. "We've done business and there's never been any problem". "My son went to IES El Palau. They've never indoctrinated him and he's always spoken whichever he wanted to, Catalan or Spanish". Cecília doesn't believe that any teacher would single out anyone: "It's normal to bring up the topic, it's normal to talk about it after the 1st October and everything that happened. Anything else wouldn't be normal. But from that to indoctrination... It's all being politicised because that interests someone and for me that someone is Ciutadans".

Her friend, Maria, shows surprise over the commotion: "my daughter, who also studied at IES, called me to say: 'But, mum, what's going on? I'm gob-smacked, I'm very offended with everything that's being said about the school, slagging it off. They didn't indoctrinate me".

As we talk, in the bar next door, El Barrio, there is at least one Civil Guard. In uniform. He tells us that his children study at IES but for vocational diplomas and that nobody has said anything to them ever. He says that in the barracks "the topic is discussed a lot", but he prefer to not go into it. "Before and after the 1st October and before and after the controversy with the teachers, my friends are still my friends, whether they're on one side or another. Here we only argue about football". He supports Barça.

By the headquarters, there are the wives of two civil guards. "It's already hard enough to live here after the 1st October, now they've put the kids in the middle". One of them tells me that her daughter is taught by one of the teachers under investigation. "I haven't reported [them], I went to speak directly with her tutor. I was clear: if you want to burn bins, burn them, but after 2:30pm [when school ends]". Her friend, who also has children at the school, is angry: "I don't believe they would single them out, but they certainly spoke about politics and expressed their ideas and that, in the classroom, you can't do".

Meanwhile, life in the neighbourhood goes on. People go shopping, retirees take in the sun, mothers stroll through the streets with their babies and on the balconies you see some senyeres, some Spanish flags and some banners reading "Democracy".

Translation: El Nacional

 

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May 3: Tensions surface in PDECat between those wanting to bring the organisation closer to JxCat and the existing PDECat leadership, which occasionally asserts differences with the JxCat leadership around Carles Puigdemont.

 

May 3: Spanish authorities say they are investigating around 80 instances of possible "indoctrination" in Catalan schools.

 

May 3: After meeting with Carles Puigdemont in Berlin, ANC president Elisenda Paluzie states that "the commitment to the Catalan Republic cannot be renounced".

 

May 3: Catalan ombudsman Rafael Ribó meets with School Council of El Palau school with a view "to resolving internally and from a purely educational perspective" the conflict over the teachers being investigated by the Spanish prosecutir's office for potential "hate crime".

 

May 3: Information Council of Catalonia to investigate the Madrid newspaper El Mundo for its article naming the teachers under investigation for possible "hate crime".

 

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"Wanted; Albert Rivera [leader of Citizens], for publicly fingering nine teachers and stirring up fascist hatred" (Poster of left-independentist youth group Arran]

 

May 3: The Spanish Tax Office embargoes €110,000 of funds in the accounts of both Òmnium Cultura and the Catalan National Assembly, ostensibly to meet damages incurred for violating data protection law.

 

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'Spanish justice' (Ot Serra, Ara, May 3)

 

Lawyers sue Spain’s judiciary leadership over affinity for PP

 

A new legal association denounces "lack of impartiality"

A complaint for continued neglect of duty has been filed against Carlos Lesmes, the President of Spain’s General Council of Judicial Power (CGPJ) and 19 other senior members of the Spanish judiciary. The Associació Atenes de Juristes pels Drets Civils (Athens Association of Jurists for Civil Rights) has decided to lodge a criminal complaint against the judicial leadership for lack of impartiality and independence from the executive and legislative powers.

 

In an lengthy text, the plaintiffs state that there is a plot in the CGPJ to benefit the ruling Partido Popular and place sympathizing magistrates in key positions connected to the main court cases of corruption involving Mariano Rajoy's party. "Preserving separation of powers is a basic principle; this is about democracy", stressed Jordi Ferres, one of the movers behind the legal association created in March, in comments to ARA.

The complaint, written by Elpidio José Silva, a former judge that was disqualified over the instruction of the Blesa corruption case, is directed against Lesmes, members of the CGPJ —in the majority conservatives—, and National Court judges. A series of cases are listed in which different judges had maneuvered supposedly to gain control over judicial proceedings involving the PP. One of the names that has received much attention is Concepción Espejel, the former president of the second section of the National Court's criminal court division. The plaintiffs are accusing her of taking advantage of her office after taking over the presidency to modify the traditional system of rotations of judicial cases in order to ensure that they would fall to her. Thus, she managed to achieve control over proceedings in the Gürtel case and that of the PP's slush fund, according to the legal association. Espejel, however, in the face of recusals of the parties implicated in these proceedings, was set aside by her own colleagues because they doubted her impartiality. Nonetheless, at the end of last year the full session of the CGPJ, thanks to the votes of the conservative majority, promoted her to president of the criminal court, a higher position than she used to hold.

Another case brought up by the lawyers is the arrival of Enrique López López at the National Court's Appeals Court division. He is a judge who was also recused from the proceedings in the early stages of the Gürtel trial owing to his proximity to the PP, a charge supported by his participation in 68 events hosted by FAES (a PP foundation) and an article published in La Razón in 2011 in which he called for the PP to oust the PSOE from government. After his appointment to the appeals court, he had jurisdiction over any appeals that might result from the Gürtel case.

Beyond the string of examples to justify the alignment of judicial leadership with the PP, the promoters of the complaint warned that the CGPJ has not followed the recommendations of the Group of European States against Corruption and Organized Crime (GRECO), which in 2014 sounded the alert over the "politicization of the highest positions in the judiciary” in Spain. "Some [judges] have said that sometimes they knew beforehand that they would be appointed for a specific important post", stressed the group.

"The important thing is that the selection of magistrates is based on merit", said Ferres, who noted that the GRECO advised that appointments be made following "assessable objective criteria". Despite the initiative's slim chancesc of success, the complaint arrives at a time when relations between Lesmes and Rafael Catalá are strained following the Justice Minister's criticisms of one of the judges in the Manada case (1).
Footnote

(1) A group of young men who called themselves la Manada (“the Wolfpack”) have been recently found guilty of sexually abusing a young woman, but rape charges were dismissed by the court, which has outraged many in Spain. One of the three judges that saw the case failed to see any sexual misconduct at all in the group’s actions.

Translation: Ara

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May 2: St James Square in central Barcelona fills in protest rally in solidarity with Catalan political prisoners in jail now for six months (below).

 

 

May 2: The Balearic Islands' teachers union STEI Intersindical, important in the 2014 "green tide" struggle to stop the regional PP government from downgrading the Balearic variant of Catalan as language of general instruction in the islands' schools, sends message of solidarity to the teachers of El Palau.

 

May 2: Demonstration in suport of the teachers of El Palau school (Sant Andreu de la Barca), being investigated for "hate crimes" (placard: I'm an El Palau teacher too!").

 

 

May 2: In the face of the likely investiture of a presidential candidate other than Carels Puigdemont, the ANC will consult its memberships as to what stance to adopt (the ANC supports Puigdemont for president and some members would prefer to go to new elections rather than accept a substitute imposed by the interference of the Spanish state).

 

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May 1: Barcelona's three May Day demonstrations

 

 

Demonstration of majority trade unions (General Union of Workers and Workers Commissions), with lead banner against violence against women ("It's not abuse, it's rape")

 

 

Demonstration of the anarco-sindicalist General Confederation Labour (CGT)

 

 

Demonstration of the pro-independence Intersindical-CSC: "Let's arise for the Republic of social rights"

 

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May 1: Social welfare and labour minister Dolors Bassa makes a call from prison for people to demonstrate on May Day in support of "political and social rights in Spain".

 

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Backgrounder (Ara, May 1)

Graffitied threats sprayed on school walls against teachers probed by Public Prosecutor

The threats appeared the day after Madrid daily El Mundo published an exposé that was tweeted by Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera

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Graffitied threats sprayed on school walls against teachers probed by Public Prosecutor

El Palau is a secondary school in Sant Andreu de la Barca where nine teachers are currently being investigated by the Prosecutor’s office for allegedly “humiliating” the children of Spanish Guardia Civil officers the day after the referendum of October 1. Several children whose Guardia Civil parents are stationed in Sant Andreu attend El Palau. Last night someone spray-painted slurs on the school walls aimed at the nine teachers: “nazis”, “scum” and “separatists”.

The graffiti appeared the day after Madrid-based newspaper El Mundo revealed the names and photographs of the nine members of staff who are being investigated. Controversy over the exposé went up a notch when Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera tweeted the story and used it to slam Mariano Rajoy’s government for failing to discipline the nine teachers who are currently being investigated over alleged hate crimes.

Rivera’s post prompted many replies on social networks, accusing him of singling out teachers who —so far— have been found guilty of no crimes. Furthermore, some users criticised the Ciudadanos leader for doing with these teachers —whose actual names and pictures were printed in the newspaper article— the same as he had criticised in the past, when the homes of unionist leaders were spray-painted.

This morning Ciudadanos MP in Catalonia Lorena Roldán tried to play down the controversy and stated that the graffiti “shows that there is an obvious social divide in Catalonia and that is why we urge the pro-independence parties to form a government”. “It is necessary for society’s wounds to heal up and these incidents, which we have experienced ourselves in the past, should never happen”, she noted. Roldán censured the perpetrators of the graffiti, which “might constitute a hate crime and we decry that, regardless of who is responsible. That is why we urge the pro-independence parties to condemn these actions”.

Tomorrow, May 1, there will be a demonstration at noon in Sant Andreu’s town hall square to support the teachers who are being probed. Interestingly, local education affairs are managed by a Ciudadanos councillor in Sant Andreu de la Barca’s local government.

Translation: Ara

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April 30: PDECat does deal with PSC in the town of Sant Martí Sarroca (Alt Penedès) to remove CUP mayor.

April 30: School Council of Catalonia denounces the "public lynching" of the nine teachers of El Palau public school who are being investigated for possible "hate crimes" for their comments to pupils after the October 1 referendum.

April 30: The 200 "Kilometres for Freedom" runners who have been jogging the 800 kilometres from Barcelona to Soto de Real jail outside Madrid finally arrive at their destination.

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Week ending April 29

190 nights with political prisoners

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April 29: Former French PM Manuel Valls says that he would be prepared to head up a united unionist platform for Barcelona Council in the May 2019 municipal elections. PSC leader Miquel Iceta: "It would be counterproductive."

Missing image.

"Environmental scandal! France recycles its toxic waste to Catalonia"

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April 28: Puigdemont tells The Times that "years of exiles or decades of prison" await him.

April 27: Barcelona Council calls for all charges against CDRs to be withdrawn.

April 27: Barcelona Council, with only Citizens and PP in opposition, votes todemand the resignation of Spanish interior minister Zoido for the confiscation of kellow t-shirts and scarfs at the King's Cup final.

April 27: Government of Schleswig-Holstein refuses to supply Spanish government with the names of the police who arrested Carles Puigdemont (the Spanish authories wished to decorate the German police involved). Spokesperson: "They were only doing their job."

April 27: Vice-president Oriol Junqueras asks to be transferred to a Catalan jail.

April 26: Enric Fossas, former vice-chancellor of Catalonia's University of Pompeu Fabra, says that unionist political parties have pressured university leaders not to support or provide facilities for acts in support of the Catalan political prisoners.

April 26: The Catalan Council of Statutory Guarantees rules that the changes envisaged by JxCat and ERC to the Catalan investiture law violate the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy (the Council's decisions are not binding).

April 26: Constitutional Court agrees to hear Spanish government suit prohibiting all methods of investing Carles Puigdemont as Catalan preisdent. The decision means that Puigdemont cannot be elected president until the suit is heard.

April 26: Association of Writers in the Galician Language publish a communiqué titled "In Defence of Catalan culture and language. En defence of civil rights."

April 26: The town council of the French Pyrenean town of Prats de Molló (Catalonia North) provide a holiday apartment to relatives of the Catalan political prisoners

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Background (Ara, April 25)

Catalan prisoner Jordi Sànchez’s punishment: moved wing, confined in cell 18 hours a day for a month

He has also been banned from having any contact with the woman who made the recording

Junts per Catalunya MP Jordi Sànchez, who is being held on pre-trial detention in Spain’s Soto del Real prison, has revealed the punishment that he has been imposed by the prison’s authorities for having made a voice recording that was used in the campaign ahead of the December elections in Catalonia. In a message on Twitter, Sànchez has explained that he will not be allowed to communicate with Núria Guillaumes, the Catalan National Assembly’s general manager, for six months. Guillaumes is the person who received Sànchez’s voice recording. The JxCat MP has been moved to a different prison wing and will have to spend 18 hours a day locked up in his cell.

That is the decision taken by Spain’s Secretary General of Penitentiary Institutions following Jordi Sànchez’s recording of a voice message from prison which was later played at the main campaign rally of Junts per Catalunya. Sànchez, who took the second slot on the JxCat slate and is the latest name to have been suggested for the post of president of Catalonia, finished off his Twitter post with the word #freedom written in Catalan and a picture of some galloping mustangs.

Sources close to Sànchez’s legal counsel have confirmed that the decision was taken a few months ago, but was only implemented in early April. The same sources indicated that Puigdemont’s deputy is allowed to leave his prison cell only in the morning and must remain confined in the afternoon.

In his voice message, the former Catalan National Assembly leader stated that the only “political opponent” in the December elections was Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and not the Ciudadanos, PP and PSC candidates. His election team mentioned that the recording was made on December 3, before Sànchez was formally given permission to take part in the election campaign. Nevertheless, they argue that it wasn’t used until December 15, once judge Pablo Llarena had allowed him “to address his voters”. Jordi Sànchez has been imprisoned in Soto del Real since October 16.

On December 14, the Supreme Court dismissed Sànchez’s request for leave so that he might join the campaign trail. The Spanish judge decided to hold him in Soto del Real and denied him all contact with news organisations and internet access, outside of what inmates are allowed by the penitentiary’s rules and regulations.

Still, the judge noted that Sànchez’s “capacity to address his voters is not totally diminished at present” and that his eligibility as a candidate was tied to that of his peers on the candidacy, who were fully engaged in the election campaign.

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April 25: The Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Milló (PP), to ask the Spanish state solictitor-general if the explanatory plaque erected in Girona's newly named First of October 2017 Square, constitutes a "hate crime".

April 25: Catalan parliament votes unanimously to restore the extra monthly payment lost by Catalonia's public servants during the economic crisis.

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Opinion (Editorial, Ara, April 24)

Sant Jordi does not accept imprisoned books or ideas

Any outside observer would find it very hard to believe that this is a fractured, divided country

This year, more than ever before, Sant Jordi's day was synonymous with freedom. Now that freedom of expression is again under threat here in Catalonia, now that the winds of freedom are not blowing either here or in the wider world, World Book Day -a celebration rooted in Catalonia- is an opportunity to remember that neither ideas, nor fiction, nor imagination can be persecuted. We have the right -and the duty- to dream up other realities, to think of alternate worlds, to invent for ourselves the present and the future. And books are a natural terrain to do so with total, unlimited, freedom.

This Sant Jordi was, once again, a civic and cultural celebration of books and roses. As the front page of ARA reads every April 23rd, this is a country to "read and love". A festival that represents an ideal, at the same time a reality and an aspiration: to make Catalonia a cultured country, welcoming and free. A country that, based on its diversity of imagination and languages and its political and ideological projects, can decide its own future without fear or confrontation, but with dialogue. But this country has come face to face with the dragon of intolerance. It has come up against the inability of Spanish democracy to face the political challenge presented to it by a significant part of Catalan society. The response has been police repression, legal persecution, and financial penalties. With political prisoners and politicians in exile. For all of them, and especially for Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, it is not just one more day of celebration, but one less. Far from their loved ones.

If Sant Jordi has traditionally been an alternative national holiday in which politics played second fiddle to culture, this year it was a festival that returned to the basics of what lies behind a book: a festival to call for freedom. Any book is always an open window on the world. The best that we could do and did on this Sant Jordi’s day was to feel free, act with liberty, and show once again the true nature of our society: civility, pacifism, culture, harmony, and tolerance. That is, books and roses for everyone, regardless of their views. This is how we will find a way out of the legal conflict between Catalonia and Spain. With dialogue, with words that are not weapons, but only tools to express arguments and feelings. By respecting the opinion of others. Not by locking away ideas behind bars, which is akin to putting books in prison.

Any outside observer, while walking the streets of Catalan cities and towns yesterday, would have found it very hard to believe that this is a fractured, divided country. They would have found it very hard to swallow the lie invented by the judicial apparatus of the State and by the Madrid-based press that we are a violent people. It would be truly difficult to think that half of Catalan citizens are a band of xenophobic nationalists. On the contrary: they would have seen a people, despite the political harshness of the moment, enjoying a civic celebration shared by all, with emotion and conviction. They would have seen how the Catalan way is through dialogue and inclusion; they would have seen the maturity of a people who are simply demanding the right to decide their future in peace and liberty. Is this so hard to understand? Is it so hard to see this reality?

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April 24: PP, Citizens and PSC demand that speakership panel reconsider its agreement that Toni Comín have the right to delegate his vote.

April 24: Catalan parliament speakership panel accepts the delegation of the vote of exiled health minister Toni Comín.

April 24: Rafael Hernando (PP spokespersion) declares he is totally in favour of the confiscation of yellow t-shirts at King's Cup final, to avoid "projects of a pro-independence, coup-promoting and Nazi character".

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Background (Vilaweb, April 24)

FC Barcelona protests over confiscated yellow t-shirts at King's Cup final

Law association consider it a severe violation of fundamental rights

FC Barcelona has officially asked to the Spanish government and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) about the police action in the Cup final on Saturday in Madrid and the confiscation of yellow shirts, scarves and whistles from Barça fans. “Depending on the response we get, we will study the actions that we have to carry out” said spokesman Josep Vives in a radio interview.

Vives denied that the club was aware of the withdrawal of yellow elements at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium: ‘It’s absolutely false. We are fed up that kind of manipulation”.  “There were three meetings to prepare the match security. No one talked about not letting people in with a shirt of one colour or another because this is  a basic right of people”, Vives insisted.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, vice president of the Spanish government, has denied that there had been a “political instruction” to remove shirts and yellow motifs before the match and said the decision was taken by the Spanish police.

Controversy

The fact that the police and security staff confiscated yellow t-shirts and scarves from FC Barcelona’s fans entering the Spanish Cup final Saturday night has not gone by without controversy. Drets, a Catalan association of law professionals, announced that they will study specific cases in which yellow t-shirts have been confiscated to report those who gave the orders.

The association said that “no law or penal code prohibits colours. To confiscate yellow t-shirts is a severe violation of fundamental rights”. In addition, they stated that confiscating independence flags also violates fundamental rights as a judge ruled in favor of allowing the flag at the Copa del Rey after authorities from the Autonomous Community of Madrid tried to ban the flag from the Cup final in the 2016-edition.

Law against violence applied

Days before the match, the Spanish home affairs minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, stated that whistling at the Spanish national anthem is violence referring to the law against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport. Previous to the match, Zoido also explained that they were “analyzing the matter and without a doubt there will be modifications to adapt the legislation to the current moment,” he said a week before the Cup final.

The Platform for the Defence of Free Expression (PDLI), a Spanish civil society group uniting journalists, lawyers, media houses, social movements and consumer advocates based in Madrid, said on Sunday that anti-violence laws should only be used “to avoid clear risks of violence” and that “the rest is censorship and limitation of political discourse and the right to disagree” referring to the confiscating of yellow t-shirts from Barça fans on Saturday. 

Other reactions

Catalan president Puigdemont asked “if a simple color is now an offence against the state, what is next?” And he added: “Spanish political police”. Member of the Spanish Parliament from the Catalan pro-independence party Esquerra, Gabriel Rufián, summarized the Cup saying “Barça wins titles. Spain loses rights.”

On the other hand, the spokesperson from Catalunya en Comú – Podem, expressed her concern on Twitter saying that “it begins with a tweet, a song. Next, ideas and it ends with a color.” Moreover, she added that it was actually “those who do not want to mix politics with sport” and finished saying: It is politics, it is authoritarianism.”

On the contrary, Catalonia’s main unionist party’s sposkeperson in Parliament, defended on Sunday that the police confiscated yellow t-shirts before the match, saying that they were “liable of provoking confrontations”.

Translation: Vilaweb

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April 23: Operation Ballot Boxes, describing how the October 1 referendum was successfully carried out in the face of Spanish state police sabotage and violence, the non-fiction best-seller at Sant Jordi,

April 23: Former French PM Manuel Valls, asked by Citizens to stand as its candidate for mayor of Barcelona, awarded the first "Common Sense" (Seny) prize of unionist Catalan Civil Society.

April 23: PP leader and former mayor of Badalona Xavier García Albiol hands out roses in the town, provoking this protest from those present.

April 23: Professional clown and ERC councilor Jordi Pesarrodona found not guilty of a hate crime for wearing a red nose alongside a Civil Guard on October 1.

April 23: ERC asks that the speakership panel of the Catalan parliament accept that the vote of exiled health minister Toni Comín be able to be delegated, like that of Carles Puigdemont. If accepted--and not overturned by the Spanish Constitutional Court--ERC and JxCat will no longer need the support of the CUP to invest a president and form government, having a 66 to 65 majority over Citizens, the PSC, PP and CatECP.

April 23: Spanish prosecutor's office in Catalonia decides to launch proceedings against ten teachers at the El Palau high school in Sant Andreu de la Barca for allegedly having humiliated the sons and daughters of Civil Guards in front of their classmates after October 1.

April 23: Catalan PP leader Xavier García Albiol calls for Sant Jordi to replace September 11 as Catalonia's national day. Barcelona Council PP leader Alberto Fernández Díaz calls for the national anthem Els Segadors (The Reapers) to be replaced by the Hymn to the Senyera (the national flag).

April 23: Yellow roses accumulate inside and outside the Catalan government building in central Barcelona, in solidarity with imprisoned and exiled Catalan leaders.

April 23 (Sant Jordi): Spanish interior minister Zoido says that the decision to confiscate yellow t-shirts at the Barça-Seville King's Cup final did not come from him, but was "operational".

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Declaration of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom, ETA), April 20

With this declaration ETA, the Basque socialist revolutionary organization for national liberation, wishes to acknowledge the harm it has caused by its armed activity, and to express its commitment to overcome the consequences of the conflict once and for all, so that such events never happen again in the future.

Over the decades, there has been much suffering in our Country: people died, were wounded, tortured, kidnapped or had to leave into exile. There has been too much suffering. ETA acknowledges its direct responsibility for this harm and states that none of this should have ever taken place and it should have not continued as long as it has. The political and historical conflict should have been resolved in a democratic and just way a long time ago. Indeed, suffering was great in our Country before the birth of ETA and now, after ETA has ended its armed struggle, there continues to be pain and suffering. The generations after the bombing of Gernika inherited that violence and distress, and it is up to us to ensure future generations inherit a completely different future.

We are aware that we have caused great pain throughout this long period of armed struggle. We know much of this harm cannot be mended. We wish to express our respect to all the victims of ETA’s actions, in that they were harmed as a consequence of the conflict, whether they were killed, injured or harmed in any other way. We are truly sorry.

Whether through mistakes or as a consequence of mistaken decisions, ETA has also caused victims among people who had no direct part in the conflict, both in the Basque Country and elsewhere. We know that, due to the various requirements of the armed struggle, our activity has harmed a number of people who had no responsibility whatsoever in the conflict. We have caused grave harm, which cannot be put right. We ask the forgiveness of these people and their relatives. These words will not cure that harm, nor will they make their hurt lesser. We say this with respect, with no wish to cause any further grief.

We understand the fact that many people believe and express the idea that what we did was unacceptable and unjust; and we respect that, as nobody should be made to feel or say what they do not believe or feel. Much of what the State forces and their regional allies have done too, even though it was done under the guise of the law, was absolutely unjust for many Basque citizens and they do not deserve to be humiliated. Otherwise we would be led to understand that there has been harm done which was just and deserves praise. ETA’s attitude to this matter, however, is different: we wish none of this had ever happened. We wish freedom and peace had taken root in the Basque Country a long time ago.

Nobody can change the past. But to distort or to try to cover up parts of that past would be one of the worst legacies anyone could leave for the future. Let us all acknowledge our responsibilities and the harm we caused. Despite having different points of view and feelings we must all acknowledge and respect the suffering of others. This is exactly what ETA wishes to express.

Precisely, as we look to the future, one of the aims we must work towards in the Basque Country is reconciliation; and it is already happening, sincerely, on many levels, among the people. Reconciliation is necessary to bring out the truth in a constructive way, to cure wounds and to build guarantees for such suffering not to happen again in the future. It is possible to build peace and achieve freedom in the Basque Country by finding a political solution to the conflict. The flames of Gernika will die down for good.

In the Basque Country, 8 April 2018

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna

Translation: Gara

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Week ending April 22

 

189 nights with political prisoners

 

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April 22: Jailed Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras publishes this comment in today's Ara (in English).

April 22: 49.2% of those polled in April 2018 GESOP poll,  published in today's El Periódico, believe Catalan political prisoners should remain in jail with 43.5% against. 83.2% of Catalans opposed to their imprisonment. Only 29.6% believe that the solution to the Catalan conflict lies in letting Spanish legal system continue with its case against the Catalan leaders.

April 22: Increase in Spanish support for a referendum in Catalonia (from 39.7% in a February 2017 GESOP poll to 46.9% in the March 2018 GESOP poll). Increase in support for a federal reform of the Spanish Constitution (47.6% for, 40% against). 78.7% of Catalans would support a Scottish-style referendum negotiated with the State.

April 22: GESOP poll reveals that 82.7% of those interviewed, including 47.7% of PP voters, think Spain needs a change of governing party. 78.6% (64.5% of PP voters) believe the Rajoy government should call new elections if it cannot get the 2018 budget passed.

April 22: Results of the latest GESOP poll. The main trends since June 2016 elections:

• Parties of the all-Spanish right (PP and Citizens would be in a majority (over 176 seats in the 350-seat Congress);
• Citizens overtakes corruption-stricken PP as the preferred party of the Spanish right;
• Both PSOE and Unidos Podemos lose support;
• ERC overtakes PDECat (formerly CDC) as the majority party of Catalan nationalism.

April 22: PSOE federal secretary addresses German SDP congress to explain that Catalan independence sentiment is not only a threat to Spain, but also to Europe.

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April 21: Spanish National Police photographing Barça fans during their booing and whistling of the Spanish national anthem.

April 21: Spanish National Police confiscate yellow t-shirts and scarves from Barça fans outside Wanda Metropolitan stadium, where King's Cup final is to be held.

April 21: Lluc Salella (CUP) "Investing Puigdemont is a question of political will."

April 21: Marta Vilalta (spokesperson, ERC) "It has been impossible since December 21 to invest Puigdemont."

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Letter to the Editor of The National (Scotland, April 20)

We are academics working in the in the fields of law, human rights, politics, sociology, history and related subjects in 19 different countries.

Over the past two weeks we have seen a further escalation in the use of criminal charges and arrests continue to be used by Spain against its political opponents.

There can be no doubt that we are living the darkest days of Spanish democracy since 1978.

In addition to the four political prisoners and the high-profile detention of Carles Puigdemont, five more democratically elected politicians have been thrown in jail (Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa and Carme Forcadell). Seven others are in exile under threat of imprisonment. In addition to Clara Ponsati, a case that is familiar to your readers, those include Marta Rovira, Anna Gabriel, Toni Comin, Meritxell Serret and Lluis Puig.

Those in exile are being hounded by European Arrest Warrants issued under the auspices of the European Union. We write to demand their immediate release, and to demand immediate action from the European Union to stop this repression, which represents an indelible and permanent stain on European democracy.

Signed:

Professor David Whyte, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr. Mònica Clua-Losada, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, US 
Professor Noam Chomsky, MIT, US 
Professor Saskia Sassen, Columbia University US 
Professor James K Galbraith, University of Texas – Austin, US 
Professor Fiona MacKay, University of Edinburgh Scotland 
Professor Leo Panitch, York University, Toronto, Canada
Professor Neil Davidson, University of Glasgow, UK
Professor Greg Albo, York University, Toronto, Canada
Professor Patrick Bond, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Professor Akwugo Emejulu, University of Warwick, UK
Professor Imogen Tyler, University of Lancaster, UK
Professor Keith Ewing, King's College London, UK
Professor Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London, UK
Professor Gilbert Achar, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
Professor Armin Bernhard, Universitat de Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Professor Huw Beynon, Cardiff University, Wales 
Professor Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University, US 
Professor Andreas Bieler, University of Nottingham, UK
Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
Professor Rudolph Brauer, University of Bremen, Germany
Professor Mario Diani, University of Trento, Italy
Professor Simon Duncan, University of Bradford, UK
Professor Pablo Ghigliani, CONICET, Argentina
Professor Penny Green, Queen Mary University, London, UK
Professor David Howell, University of York, UK
Professor Ronnie Lippens, Keele University, UK
Professor Bart Maddens, Catholic University of Leuven, Flanders, Belgium
Professor Miguel Martínez Lucio, The University of Manchester, UK
Professor David McNally, York University, Toronto, Canada
Professor David Miller, University of Bath, UK
Professor Adam Morton, University of Sidney, Australia
Professor James L Newell, University of Salford, UK
Professor John Parkinson, University of Cranberra, Australia
Professor Scott Poynting, University of New South Wales, Australia
Professor Helen Richardson, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Professor JP Roos, University of Helsinki, Finland
Professor Sebastian Scheerer, University of Hamburg, Germany
Professor Phil Scraton, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland 
Professor Joe Sim, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Professor Richard Sorg, Hamburg, Germany
Professor Paul Stewart, University of Strathclyde, Scotland 
Professor Steve Tombs, The Open University, UK
Professor Tony Ward, Northumbria University, UK
Professor Andrew Watterson, University of Stirling, Scotland 
Professor Peter Willetts, City University of London, UK
Dr Milica Antić Gaber, University of Ljubjana, Slovenia
Dr Alejandra Araiza Diaz, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mexico
Pura Ariza, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Dr Dario Azzellini, Cornell University, US 
Dr David Bailey, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Oscar Berglund, University of Bristol, UK
Marc Bosch i Matas, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr Jonathan Burnett, Swansea University Wales 
Grant Buttars, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Dr Queralt, Capsada-Munsech, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Dr Sevasti, Chatzopoulou, Roskilde University, Denmark
Dr Yulia Chistyakova, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Dr Vickie Cooper, Open University, UK
Dr Adriano Cozzolino, University of Napoli L'Orientale, Italy
Dr Gareth Dale, Brunel University, UK
Dr Jill Daniels, University of East London, UK
Dr Judith Delheim, Zukunftskonvent, Germany
Dr Julia Downes, Open University, UK
Dr Phil Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Dr Wolfram Elsner, University of Bremen, Germany
Dr Karen Evans, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Cristina Flesher Fominaya, Loughborough University, UK
Dr Robert González Garcia, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mexico
Dr Sofia Gradin, King's College London, UK
Dr Alexia Grosjean, University of St Andrews, UK
Dr Bue Rübner Hansen, Aarhus University, Denmark
Mike Harrison, University of South Wales, Wales
Dr Emily Luise Hart, University of Liverpool, UK
Sabine Hattinger-Allende, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Dr Fiona Henderson Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland 
Dr Marion Hersh, University of Glasgow, Scotland 
Dr Michael Holmes, Liverpool Hope University, UK
Dr Laura Horn, Roskilde University, Denmark
Dr Feyzi Ismail, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
Dr Sabine Israel, Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Germany
Dr William Jackson, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Dr Johannes Jäger, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, Austria
Dr Paul Jones, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Mark Kaswan, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, US 
Dr Stephanie Khoury University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Nicholas Kiersey, Ohio University, US 
Dr Tor Krever, University of Warwick, UK
Dr Theocharis (Harris) Kromydas, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Dr Michael Mair, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Paul McFadden, University of York, UK
Jo McNeill, University of Liverpool, and UCU UofL President, UK
Madelaine Moore, University of Kassel, Germany
Dr Carlo Morelli, University of Dundee, Scotland
Dr Jeffrey Murer, University of St Andrews, UK
Dr Féilim O hAdhmaill, University College Cork, Ireland
Christina Paine, UCU London Metropolitan University, UK
Dr Kirsteen Paton, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Louise Purbrick, University of Brighton, UK
Dr Xavier Rubio-Campillo, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Dr Pollyanna Ruiz, University of Sussex, UK
Dr Thomas Sablowski, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Germany
Jordi-Sanchez Carrion, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Jeffrey Stevenson Murer, University of St Andrews, Scotland
Dr Maka Suarez, Universidad de Cuenca & FLACSO-Ecuador, Ecuador
Dr Simon Toubeau, University of Nottingham, UK
Katie Tucker, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Kristine Vanden Berghe, Université de Liège, Belgium
Jill Vickers, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Dr David Webber, Southampton Solent University, UK
Dr Niall Whelehan, University of Strathclyde, UK
Dr Angela Wigger, Radboud University, Netherlands
Dr Owen Worth, University of Limerick, Ireland
Doug Yearwood, Queen's University, Canada
Dr Yuliya Yurchenko, University of Greenwich, UK

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April 20: Enric Millo (PP, Spanish government delegate to Catalonia) "The sacking of the Catalan government's director general of foreign affairs, Marina Borrell, and the director of the School of Public Administration, Agustí Colomines, is dues to "behaviour contrary to the general interest".

April 20: (from April 14) The Spanish-patriotic media at work. "The Nazi footprint on the Land that released Puigdemont: Schleswig-Holstein, land of second opportunities" (El Español, in Spanish, accompanying graphic below).

Missing image.

April 20: (Politico, by Ignasi Ribó) The last thing Catalonia needs is more autonomy--Spain’s flawed constitution is at the root of the Catalan crisis.

April 20: EU-Catalonia Dialogue manifesto launched in Barcelona by 40 MEPs

April 20: Web-based daily Publico publishes documents kept from Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena by the Guardia Civil that confirm that the Catalan government did not fund the October 1 referendum.

April 20: Citizens announces that it has asked former French PM Manuel Valls to be its candidate for mayor of Barcelona in the May 2019 municipal elections.

April 20: (Carles Puigdemont) Congratulations Israel on the 70th anniversary of your Independence. Your struggle against adversity and your spirit of self-sacrifice has gained our respect in Catalonia.
              (CUP Catalan Lands) We do not respect the way how Israel has occupied, violated and killed Palestinian people. We'll never accept any apartheid or colonialist State. It is a shame to congratulate this racist, zionist and killer State of Israel. It must be condemned and sanctioned.

April 20: Report to UK parliament denies any Russian support for pro-independence movements (as claimed by Spanish media in the Catalan case).

April 20: Spanish government sacks the Catalan government's director general of foreign affairs, Marina Borrell, and the director of the School of Public Administration, Agustí Colomines, for their supposed role in allowing exiled Catalan culture minister Lluís Puig, address a meeting hosted by the Catalan government's delegation in Brussels..

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Update: Lluís Bou (El Nacional, April 19)

Spanish secret service spying on Puigdemont in Berlin, according to Junge Welt

The Spanish secret service is spying on president Carles Puigdemont in Berlin, according to newspaper Junge Welt (in German), close to left-wing party Die Linke. "Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was clearly watched and shadowed on German soil. Detailed reports have been published in Spanish media about [his] daily routine", they write in an article entitled "Spies against Puigdemont".

According to the newspaper, a clear example is El Mundo. "Readers of the Spanish daily paper, close to the government, could find out on Monday what address Puigdemont is living at, at what time he met with his family, where they ate at midday and who he met with later in the evening," they report. They then quote the details: "the text goes on to say 'he lives in Charlottenburg, in the former West Berlin, one of the capital's most bourgeois neighbourhoods'. Even the street and house number were mentioned - and how much it costs to stay in the hotel per night."

This comes a day after the legal services of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, warned, in response to a question from MP Andrej Hunko (Die Linke), that if Spanish security services had spied on Puigdemont in Germany it would have been illegal. They made that clear in their report and warned that any such action could have legal consequences.

"Action by sovereign authorities without the consent from the German state entails several legal consequences: foreign secret service operations against the Federal Republic are punishable in accordance with § 99 of the Criminal Code. Spying on foreigners in the Federal Republic fulfils this criteria. The unauthorised collection of data can fulfil the criteria of a misdemeanour or felony according to the Federal Data Protection Act," the report says.

Hunko has presented a further question in the Parliament to clarify the situation. According to Junge Welt, this now puts the "focus" on whether there was cooperation between the BKA, Germany's federal criminal police office, and the CNI, Spain's intelligence agency.

Translation: El Nacional

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April 19: Judge in Barcelona opens investigation into presumed spying by the Catalan police into the activities of unionist organisations.

April 19: The mayor of Geneva, Rémy Pagani, offers the city as mediator in the Spain-Catalonia conflict.

April 19: Citizens' leader Albert Rivera resigns from the UGT after its "support for the separatist coup".

April 19: Girona Council implements decision to change name of Constitution Square to First of October 2017 Square (below, councilors holding new plaque, which includes this saying of philosopher Xàvier Antich: "There's only one thing worse than forgetting. Not knowing that you've forgotten").

Missing image: Girona renames Independence Square First of Octtober 2017 Square.

Missing image.

April 19: In reply to a question from Bildu senator Jon Iñarritu, Spanish government admits to pressuring foreign states to sack honorary consuls in Barcelona suspected of sympathy with Catalan independence process.

April 19: Javier Lamban (PSOE premier of Aragón): "The archive of the Crown of Aragon [presently held in Barcelona] belongs to Spain."

April 19: (EuroActiv) Ex-French PM Manuel Valls: no separatist solution in Catalonia

April 19: (The Herald, Scotland) Scotland praised for standing 'completely apart' in its support for Catalonia

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Opinion: Aleix Sarri Camargo (EuroNews, April 18)

Catalonia's crisis, Europe's wake up call

Missing image: Aleix Sarri Camarago, assistance to PDECat MEP Ramon Tremosa.

Nine Catalan politicians and social leaders (seven elected MEPs) are in pre-trial detention for up to six months. They have been accused of rebellion or sedition, and face between 15 and 30 years in jail. The so-called rebellion refers to the 1 October referendum, organised by Carles Puigdemont’s government, in which more than two million Catalans voted despite the violence of Spanish police that left 893 people injured and was condemned by Human Rights Watch, among others. A rebellion organised with ballot boxes is indeed a strange rebellion.

Incredible as it may sound, at this point Catalan political prisoners have spent more time in jail for organising a referendum than members of the paramilitary group GAL who, following orders from the Spanish interior ministry, tortured and killed in Euskadi during the eighties -- a clear case of double standards.

Many Spanish unionists tend to forget that, as established in Article 472 of the Criminal Code, peaceful and orderly demonstrations do not constitute a crime of rebellion. What’s more, calling, organizing and holding a referendum is not a crime in Spain after the relevant articles from the Criminal Code were removed in 2005. In fact, even declaring independence is not a crime according to Spain’s Criminal Code. The misuse of funds charges also sound fake, taking into account that this week Cristóbal Montoro, Spain’s finance minister, recognised that no public funds were used for the referendum.

The Spanish outrage at the so far unsuccessful attempt to extradite Carles Puigdemont for rebellion has been loud (for example a Spanish member of the European People’s Party said that “If the European arrest warrant doesn’t work, Schengen is useless”) and aggressive (with a prominent Spanish commentator calling a German federal minister “racist”). However, the hypocrisy of this outrage has also been brought to light, as not so long ago, many former high-ranking nazi officials were protected from extradition in Spain. In the latest turn of events, the Spanish Supreme Court has harshly criticised the German court deciding on Puigdemont's extradition case, a move that has not escaped the attention of German media.

The fact is that the interpretation of Spanish law has been systematically biased against the Catalan pro-independence movement. The latest blow to its credibility has been the rejection by Spanish judge Pablo Llarena to allow imprisoned MP Jordi Sànchez to exercise his political rights and be elected as president of the regional parliament, as even the UN had advised in its precautionary recommendations. Llarena keeps Catalan leaders in prison because, due to their political convictions, there is risk of “reoffending”.

The fundamental problem is that Spain's political transition, widely praised for decades, was deeply flawed. In the name of reconciliation, a big chunk of the Spanish deep state never faced reform, preserving its right-wing elites and practices inside the police, the military or the judiciary system. Contrarily to Germany, Francoism was whitewashed in Spain and the country’s past was never confronted.

 

In Spain, the Francisco Franco Foundation is legal, has received public subsidies and staunchly defends the dictatorship. Meanwhile, El Valle de los Caídos, the mausoleum where the dictator is buried together with Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, ideologue of Spanish fascism, is officially considered National Heritage of Spain and also receives public funds. There has never been a trial on the excesses of Francoism and one shall never forget that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Partido Popular (People’s Party or PP) was founded by seven former ministers from Franco’s regime.

For months (and years), Carles Puigdemont and other Catalan leaders have called for a negotiated political solution. However, not surprisingly, Rajoy has rejected around 20 times to negotiate on a possible Scottish-like referendum in Catalonia. A situation that may not change soon, as the unionist block (the PP, Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and Ciudadanos) has been solid in its rejection of political concessions. Moreover, Ciudadanos may win the next election thanks to its hard right stance on Catalonia.

One should not expect much from King Felipe VI either. In his 3 October speech, the King abandoned his stance as a neutral referee of political life, to become the leader of the Spanish authoritarian counter-reaction to the Catalan self-determination process and a wider repressive offensive that has received strong criticism from Amnesty International and the international press.

In Barcelona on Sunday, several hundred thousand demonstrators took part in an historic, peaceful rally to show their support for the release of the Catalan political prisoners. Moreover, 44 MEPs from 15 nations have already demanded the detainees be freed in order to have a dialogue without pre-conditions between Catalonia and Spain. However, without greater outside pressure, it does not seem realistic to find a political solution for Catalonia any time soon as the Spanish side is unwilling to take a seat at the table.

Meanwhile, authoritarianism is on the rise not only in Spain but all around the world. Authoritarian countries like Russia or China receive less criticism than ever, and Trump’s bombastic rhetoric and opportunistic foreign policy has undermined the democratic leadership of the United States. The defense of human rights is disappearing from the Western agenda while Tibetan, Uighur and even Hong Kong activists in China end up in prison for defending the use of their language in schools or a more democratic system.

This is why defending the right to self-determination, democracy and historical memory is unavoidable for Europe. European inaction on fundamental rights’ violations in Catalonia will ease the path for soft versions of authoritarianism to invade the whole European continent and compromise the idea of democracy as the best tool to solve political conflicts around the world. Catalonia’s crisis is Europe’s wake up call.

Aleix Sarri Camargo is an advisor to Ramon Tremosa, an MEP for pro-independence Catalan party The Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECat). He is also co-author of “Why the Euro Is Failing.”

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April 18: Josep Maria Bartomeu (president, Barcelona FC, on Saturday's King's Cup final): "I would ask the fans to enjoy the game and to support the team peacefully and in a spirit of fair play [in English in original]. And that they respect all symbols of identity just as ours should be respected. When there is booing, this is not disrespect for a symbol but protest against what has happened in Catalonia in recent years." Reactions: "Absolute rejection" (PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez); "Serious mistake to use football politically" (PCS leader Miquel Iceta). Earlier Spanish interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido had said that booing and abuse at the game would be regarded as "violence".

 

April 18: (The Scotsman) Madrid urged to follow UK to break Catalan indyref deadlock

 

April 18: Ultra-right party Vox, whose leader is the "popular prosecution" in the case against the Catalan leaders, calls for the resignation of Montoro.

 

April 18: Exiled Catalan minister for culture Lluís Puig, attends meeting in the Brussels delegation of the Catalan government celebrating the centenary of the birth of Catalan novelist and poet, the left-independentist Manuel de Pedrolo. Although not officially invited he ends up addressing the meeting. The Spanish government is reported to be studying "reprisals" against the delegation for allowing Puig to speak.

 

April 18: Scottish unions call for the release of the Catalan political priosners and stress the role of the Catalan firefighters in preventing even more police violence on October 1.

 

April 18: Jordi Turull (jailed JxCat candidate for president, after declaring before judge Llarena): "Mr Llarena has locked me up in prison because my investiture was 'inappropriate'. Today I told him that my ideals are intact and that I will continue to defend them in a democratic and peaceful way."

 

April 18: PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez says on the Sixth channel that PSC MP Carles Castillo's visit to jailed Catalan leaders "was in a personal capacity".

 

April 18: Citizens announces that it will launch a law suit to prevent the Catalan parliament from pursuing a complaint of perverting the course of justice against judge Llarena (for his refusal to allow Jordi Sànchez to be invested).

 

April 18: Judge Pablo Llarena asks Spanish treasurer Cristóbal Montoro to provide evidence to justify his statement that "not a euro of public money" was spent on the October 1 referendum. Montoro's position effectively torpedoes the request for extradition of the exiled Catalan leaders on the grounds of misuse of public moneys.

 

April 18: Swiss parliament's foreign affairs committee says it will block the extradition of Marta Rovira (ERC general secretary) if this is sought "on purely political grounds".

 

April 18: ANC, Òmnium Cultural, the Platform for Catalan Sporting Selections and the legal platform Rights call on Barça supporters to "fill the stands with yellow t-shirts" in support of the political prisoners when the Spanish anthem is played at Saturday's King's Cup final against Seville (below).

 

Missing image.

 

April 18: Carles Riera (CUP parliamentary spokesperson): "Reality shows that the only way out is to move forward because otherwise there will be more repression and autonomy will be more limited, which means putting up with still more repression. However, every leap forward implies effort and sacrifices and we have to be able to take more of those on board. Making the Republic means investing Puigdemont as president, implementing the laws overturned by the State so as to implement left-wing policies and internationalising the conflict through a struggle against repression and and street mobilisations."

 

April 18: It is revealed that PSC MP Carles Castillo visited Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras on March 1. Castillo is the first and only PSC-PSOE MP to visit any of the Catalan prisoners.

 

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Comment (Raül Romeva, jailed Catalan foreign minister, Ara, April 18)

Prison as political tool

Yes, prison had to play a part in our peaceful and democratic struggle

"Being in prison is never good, but an ordinary person, with a sense of justice, can endure it and come out stronger and more convinced. You have to lose your fear. You'll go through periods of discouragement and depression. It's possible, or even probable, that some days you'll cry from grief. But don't worry, it's completely normal."

I received these reflections, along with a list of ten tips, the first time I was called to testify last November. They came from Pepe Beúnza, the first political (not religious) conscientious objector to have ever been imprisoned in Spain.

Pepe Beúnza was sent to prison in 1971 and he remained there for over two years. He did it as a means of protest. Today nobody doubts that if thousands of objectors over the years collapsed the system, eventually bringing about the end of compulsory draft in Spain, it is largely due to his decision (and that of others) to go to prison. I will always feel indebted to him.

Pepe was a teacher in the Torre Marimon School, in Caldes de Montbui, where my father was the Principal and where, in fact, we lived. He introduced me to the world of pacifism and the defense of human rights. Under his mentorship, I became a conscientious objector myself and started on a path that I have never abandoned, in favor of peace, democracy, and freedom.

When I received his message, some of my colleagues in the Catalan government and I were considering how best to face the scenario, well aware that the Spanish government would take things to their final consequences. I don't believe that what we did can be considered a criminal act, and I am willing to stand by it whenever and wherever necessary. But it is largely due to Pepe that I didn't hesitate to make the decision. Yes, prison could and, in fact, had to play a part in our peaceful and democratic struggle.

Pepe Beúnza went to prison in order to expose the weaknesses of a State that had already begun to show signs of the fragility of a moribund regime. In the same way, our imprisonment must serve to shine a light on the weakness of a failed democratic project and a country with important legal, and especially political, shortcomings.

You were right, Pepe, things are not good here. It is sad and discouraging, living far from your family and friends, and every time that they have to travel more than 1,400 km to see you, it is very hard. But don't be sorry, our prison terms are exposing the direction that the judicial response to the Catalan question is taking, which is in no way that which a healthy democracy should take. On the contrary, this response undermines the very principles that underpin democracy, with the danger of bringing it to the brink of collapse.

This journey will be long and hard. Rebellion, sedition, coup d'état, violence, terrorism... we can feel how institutional impunity is expanding and how part of the media, police, and judicial system are protecting it. We also feel the loneliness, and how a significant part of society is still willing to stay silent and look the other way. But in these times we are also feeling solidarity, commitment, and empathy, and we have learned many things. Among these things are not to hide, not to renounce dialogue, and to instead condemn injustice, persevere, and overcome our difficulties.

On this road, prison must be an instrument to show everyone who believes in democracy that twisting the criminal code to repress political views is not acceptable, that political ideas cannot be fought by judicial coercion or the violation of rights and freedoms, and that avoiding politics and opting instead for repression will never solve anything.

When the people called to safeguard justice conclude that the ends justify any means, the responsibility to confront this oppression falls on all who believe in democracy. And, as Pepe taught me, my imprisonment, our imprisonment, must serve to encourage them to lose their fear of condemning what is wrong, and to never accept these excesses and the dangers that they entail.

Translation: Ara

April 17: ERC and PDECat MPs sing Grândola, Vila Morena (anthem of Portugal's1974 Carnation Revolution) at the end of speech to Spanish Congress by Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

April 17: Catalan provincial and regional heads of the Spanish prosecutor's office decide to proceed with all the investigations into the more than 700 mayors in Catalonia who made council premises available for the October 1 referendum.

April 17: (Vilaweb) Spain’s Supreme Court criticises German justice and insists on violence factor

April 17: Joaquim Gay de Montellà, president of Catalan big business umbrella Development of National Labour tells El Mundo that political impasse in Catalonia could produce a decade of economic stagnation.

April 17: Unionist umbrella Catalan Civil Society (SCC) to initiate European tour.

April 17: (Sunday Herald, Scotland) Opposing sides unite to condemn Spain’s ‘authoritarian’ behaviour

April 17: (Deutsche Welle) Why Catalan separatists are singing a traditional German children's song

April 17: Appeals bench of the Supreme Court, in supporting judge Llarena's refusal to allow the investiture of Jordi Sànchez, also opens the door to changing the charge of rebellion against Carles Puigdemont to one of sedition in order to improve chances of his extradition.

April 17: Pepe Àlvarez, the UGT secretary-general for the Spanish state denies significant loss of members in Catalonia, and describes the participation of the organisation's Catalan federation in Sunday's demonstration as "reasonable", while denying the existence of political prisoners  in the Spanish state.

April 17: French president Macron to European Parliament (without mentioning Catalonia by name): "Like it or not, the Constitution is not to be chopped up, sovereignty is not to be divided unless the people decide to do it." Reaction of ERC here.

April 17: Speakership panel of the Catalan parliament maintains Carles Puigdemont's right to delegate his vote. Citizens demands of the Spanish government that it challenge this decision in the Constitutional Court.

April 17: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent to visit Geneva to explain violation of rights involved in judge Llarena's refusal to allow Jordi Sànchez to be invested as president.

April 17: Today's edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung contains article arguing that it will be difficult for Spanish prosecutors to convince German judges that there has been a misuse of public moneys by Catalan leaders.

News (Vilaweb, April 16)

Jailed VP defends Catalan self-determination in court

Oriol Junqueras tells judge that organising referendum is no crime and “not a cent” of public money was used

In a court appearance on Monday, the jailed Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras defended Catalonia’s right to self-determination and told the judge that calling a referendum is no crime. Deposed vice president Oriol Junqueras made a 40-minute appearance in Spain’s Supreme Court, where he is charged with rebellion and misuse of public funds for his part in the push for independence.

Answering questions from his lawyer, Junqueras said the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party he heads has for decades stood for an independent Catalonia without it ever being questioned. What’s more, the vice president insisted that “not a cent” of public money had been used to organize the unilateral referendum on independence on October 1, and he condemned the “intolerable” hardline tactics used by Spanish riot police to prevent the vote from taking place.

While Junqueras pointed out that numerous attempts were made by Catalonia’s pro-independence executive to engage the state government in dialogue, he went on to stress the pacifist nature of his political activities. In fact, Junqueras denied that any violence had been committed by the independence movement and was not even considered “as possible” by the Catalan government.

The vice president was also critical of the legal process he is subject to, arguing that he should not be tried in the Spanish Supreme Court but rather in Catalonia’s High Court of Justice (TSJC). Junqueras also claimed that the legal proceedings against pro-independence leaders are an attempt to nullify a political movement and are thus an infringement of political rights.

Translation: Vilaweb

April 16: Carmen Calvo, PSOE secretary for equality, says that UGT and CCOO participation in yesterday's Barcelona demonstration is "not understandable".

April 16: Enric Millo (PP and Spanish government delegate in Catalonia) says that "in general" the CDR cannot be compared to the kale borroka but that some CDR are more inclined to violence than others.

April 16: Jordi Sànchez, appearing before judge Pablo Llarena, attacks him for not being impartial.

April 16: Javier Moroto (PP deputy secretary of sectoral policy) challenges Citizens to present leader Inés Arrimades as presidential candidate in Catalon parliament.

April 16: Day of definitive closure of Catalan diplomatic service DIPLOCAT, denounced by its workers as "unjust and arbitrary".

Document: Communiqué of employees' assembly of DIPLOCAT (April 16)

About DIPLOCAT's liquidation

The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) has come to an end today once its office has been closed and its workers have been dismissed.

The Spanish government has liquidated Diplocat based on the Royal decree 945/2017 of 27 October 2017 followed by the invoking of Article 155 from the Spanish constitution. However, the only argument of this Royal decree is that “it is necessary to suppress those unnecessary organisations in this context or those, which have been created in order to participate in the development of the secessionist process.” The decision of liquidating Diplocat was ratified by the Spanish government’s Council of Ministers on 15 December 2017. 
 
In light of this decision, it is important to bear in mind that all Diplocat’s actions fall within the scope of public diplomacy. It is important to make a distinction between this concept and that of regular diplomacy. While the latter refers to the relations between states, public diplomacy comprises actions taken by states and non-state actors, with the intent of establishing a dialogue with a foreign public. As such, the actions of Diplocat were not aimed at setting up relations with foreign governments, but rather at broadcasting the Catalan reality to individuals and entities abroad.
 
Diplocat’s employee assembly would like to make public the following points:
 
1. We do not agree with the fact that it is the government of the Spanish Popular Party (PP), a minority party in Catalonia, who establishes itself as judge to evaluate the necessity or utility of an organisation like Diplocat in Catalonia. It is for the government of Catalonia and the other 38 members of the council to decide if Catalonia should have an entity like Diplocat; which, on the other hand, has counterparts in several countries and regions of the world.
 
2. We disagree with the consideration that “the only purpose” of Diplocat is linked to the secessionist process. During the year 2017, just to provide an example, Diplocat has organised debates and seminars on municipal diplomacy and on integration policies of refugees. Furthermore, Diplocat has organised projects abroad related to green energy and about urban territory management. It has given support to the internationalisation of the tradition of Sant Jordi (Saint George) and to the publishing of a study on Catalan gipsies in France. It has, furthermore, continued awarding students with grants for international studies abroad and it has given the PIMEC-DIPLOCAT 2017 award to a big data analytics company, among other initiatives.  
 
3. We have to keep in mind that Diplocat is an organisation that from 2012 works with the aim of protecting Catalonia’s image and prestige and its institutions, entities and assets around the world. Moreover, the organisation derives from the Catalan Pro Europe Platform (Patronat Català Pro Europa, 1982) and from Catalonia World Platform (Patronat Catalunya Món, 2007), thus it is not created upon “secessionists purposes.”   
 
4. It is important to remember that activities aimed at explaining Catalonia’s situation abroad have often been organised upon the request of foreign universities or think tanks expressing their interest in Catalonia. We wish to point out that Diplocat, in these conferences, has laid out the wish of the majority of the Catalan citizens to have the right to decide, but Diplocat has never taking part regarding independence. This was, moreover, the specific order from Diplocat’s board. Diplocat has often invited people clearly opposed to the sovereign process. In the sessions organised in Spain all parties have always been invited to take part, giving rise to debates in which most of the participants were clearly opposed to secession.  
 
5. In the rest of our activities, including the international visitors program, we have followed the same criteria, which is guaranteeing the plurality of opinions giving voice to both people in favour of and opposed to the referendum and the independence of Catalonia. All the delegations visiting us have had the chance to meet with all the parties with parliamentary representation, as well as with diverse and plural entities from social society, from the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) to Catalan Civil Society (Societat Civil Catalana). The parties that now defend the invoking of Article 155 from the Spanish Constitution (Ciudadanos, PP, PSOE), and therefore the extinction of Diplocat, have participated in the organisation’s initiatives.
 
6. We wish to point out that it is this clear and determined commitment towards plurality and the opportunity to hear all points of view and being able to meet with all the involved parts that has led to public recognition of Diplocat. MPs and MEPs from the entire political spectrum and academics of international prestige are among the people who have recognized Diplocat’s work.  
 
7. We firmly believe that the Spanish government exceeds its functions, including the ones exceptionally given by the Article 155. Suppressing an organisation like Diplocat, a completely legal and legitimate public-private council of 39 members that represent the Catalan society in a broad and transversal way, infringes Article 2 of the self-same Spanish constitution. The Article 155 does not enable the Spanish state to dissolve autonomic bodies, as the actions taken have to be temporary and not definitive.  
 
8. It seems that what bothers the Spanish government is not Diplocat’s possible drift towards independence, which is not true and which would never have been accepted by the members of the council, but that Catalonia is on the table outside the expected circles controlled by the powers of the Spanish state, its foreign ministry and its embassies.  
 
9. We encourage Diplocat’s 39 members to publically express their opinion on the closing of the council and to show their rejection if, as well as the employee’s assembly who signs this communiqué, they believe that this is an unfair and arbitrary decision that goes against Catalonia’s interests and its civil society, who will be left without a tool for internationalization, which has proven to be useful and efficient.
 
10. We ask the future Government of Catalonia to create Diplocat again, or a similar entity, as it has proved to be a useful and efficient tool to present Catalonia’s values and potentials abroad.
 
Barcelona, 16 April 2018
Employee assembly of Diplocat

Members of Diplocat

Public institutions
 Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya)    Provincial Councils of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona and Aran Government (Conselh Generau d’Aran)  City Councils of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and Vielha e Mijaran  Catalan Association of Municipalities and Counties  Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia
Financial and entrepreneurial entities
 Catalan Federation of Savings Banks  General Council of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Navigation  Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise of Catalonia (PIMEC)  Catalan Employers' Association (Foment del Treball Nacional)  AMEC Multi-sector Association of Businesses  FemCAT Private Entrepreneurs' Foundation  Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia  CCOO of Catalonia (trade union)  UGT of Catalonia (trade union)
Social and sports entities
 Federation of Third Sector Entities of Catalonia  FC Barcelona
Universities, business schools and academic institutions
 The universities of Catalonia  EADA Business School  Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE)  Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI)

April 16: (Salvador Illa, PSC spokeperson): "With every day that passes it becomes clearer that the main obstacle to forming a government is called Carles Puigdemont."

April 16: Citizens leader Albert Rivera calls for an investigation by the control commission of the Catalan Corporations of Audiovisual Media (CCMA) into the prime time interview last night of Carles Puigdemont by public channel TV3. If the CCMA refuses, the investigations should be done by the Senate. Rivera compares TV3, whose interview with Puigdemont attracted a 30% audience share (one million), with the Franco-era NO-DO (News and Documentaries). Episodes of NO-DO were compulsorily projected in Spanish cinemas during the dictatorship.

April 16: PP spokeperson Fernando Martínez Maillo says that the support of the UGT and CCOO to yesterday's demonstration "brings no credit on the trade union centres".

April 16: Judge Carmen Lamela (National Court) informs the former leadership group of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, Pere Soler i César Puig, that they have been charged with sedition and criminal organisation.

April 16: Javier Pacheco (president, CCOO): "The goal of the demonstration was to make an appeal to parts of society that have nothing to do with the independence movement to come out in respect for democracy and against the legalistic response of the state."

April 16: Elisenda Paluzie (ANC president, reflecting on the immense April 15 #"WeWantThemHome" demonstration) "It is positive that CCOO and the UGT demonstrate together with pro-independence forces in support of rights ...  We all made an effort [at reaching a compromise position], but in the face of repression there have to be as many of us as possible, even while we in the ANC will do other demonstrations that are clearly pro-independence."

Week ending April 15

176 nights with political prisoners

April 15: Carles Puigdemont gives long interview to Catalan public TV channel 3. The main points are:

• Repeat elections are desired by the Spanish state: "Our desire and our efforts are directed at avoiding that and being loyal to what was voted for on October 1 and December 21.
• "The Spanish government wants a Catalan government on its knees, and we cannot give them that. The people would condemn us for it. We have time to arrive at a solution, and we won't need to exhaust it."
• "We will have the candidate that the parliamentary regulation, the law of the presidency and the Constitution allows. No-one has yet justified why any of the 135 MPs can't be elected."
• "Today there was an impressive demonstration in Barcelona, the people were there. The people also came to vote in the face of fear and threats. We can't lose sight of that. The people mobilise in such an admirable way that it gives you confidence in this country."

April 15: Main features of today's mass demonstration in Barcelona in support of Catalan political prisoners and exiles (#WeWantThemHome), with graphics.
The municipal police estimation of attendance was 315,000: the organisers' estimate was 750,000. The demonstration completely overflowed the two kilometres of Parallel Avenue to which it was supposed to be confined.

• Family members of Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart reading the manifesto of the demonstration

• Red Current: "Free all political prisoners; End political and social persecution; Out with Rajoy and the monarchy"

Missing image.

• Banner: "Republic is Democracy and Progress: Autonomy [regional government within Spanish state] is Spanish Colony"

Missing image.

• ehind the placards showing the exiles: "Republic is democracy and progress"

Missing image.

• "Neither exile nor prison"

Missing image.

• Flags of countries where Catalan exiles are not in jail (Germany, Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland)

Missing image.

• Second row of banners

Mising image.

• Lead banners of the demonstration: (left side) "For Rights and Fredoms--We Want You Home" (right side) "For Democracy and Social Harmony--We Want You Home"

• Raising a castle as the demonstration forms

• The demonstration, seen from the Park of the Three Chimneys, looking back towards Plaça d'Espanya. The entire two kilometres of the demonstration was full and people could not move, with many leaving the march to watch from side streets, which also filled up.

Missing image.

• The demonstration, looking from Plaça d'Espanya down to the Three Chimneys (visible in the distance)

Missing image.

• Map of the route of the demonstration, down Paralle Avenue from the Plaça d'Espanya to the Park of the Three Chimneys (2 kilometres)

Missing image.

• Waiting for the demonstration to start

Missing image.

• 900 buses bringing demonstrators from all parts start to arrive in Barcelona

April 14: (El Nacional) Julio Anguita (former federal coordinator, United Left): "The judge has convinced me that Spain has political prisoners"

April 14: Carles Puigdemont on the 87th anniversary of the founding of the Second Spanish Republic (tweet in Spanish): "The best guarantee for achieving a Spanish Republic is to support the Catalan Republic. 77.9% of Catalans would remove the monarchy. There is no data for Spaniards since 2015. Because asking, questioning and voting are today acts of terrorism, rebellion and sedition."

April 14: Rajoy says his government is studying the possibility of charging the Catalan speakership panel with misuse of public funds for its law suit against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarenas.

April 13: Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català calls the Catalan speakership's board lawsuit against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena as "a threat and an attempt at coercion".

April 13: Catalan Civil Society and Citizens accuse of "indoctrination" a children's activity at the Sagrada Familia annual fair called "Climb aboard the train of the Republic!"

April 13: (Handelsblatt) Puigdemont affair may go to European Court of Justice

April 13: Appearing with Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Mariano Rajoy states that the lawsuit against Llarena represents embezzlement of public funds and does not rule out that German court will change its mind about the extradition of Puigdemont. He also attacks the internationalisation of the Catalan campaign for self-determination.

April 13: CatECP to support law suit against Llarena.

April 13: Spanish government spokeperson Iñigo Méndez de Vigo says that the Catalan parliament law suit against Llarena could represent misuse of public moneys.

April 13: PSC on Catalan parliament law suit against Llarena: "We're opposed to the use of parliament for party political ends."

April 13: Act in memory of the Republican victims of Francoism outside Catalan parliament. Present: JxCat, ERC, CUP, CatECP. Absent: PSC, Citizens, PP.

April 13: On the 87th anniversary of the founding of the Second Republic (April 14, 1931), the tricolour (red, yellow and maroon) Republican flag is flown from Sbadell town hall, along with the estelada, the Catalan independence flag.

Analysis (Mariona Ferrer i Fornells and Dani Sánchez Ugart, Ara, April 13)

Llarena refuses Sànchez permission to attend the plenary, admits it is to stop him being elected

Spain’s Supreme Court judge disregards the recommendation by the UN Human Rights Committee

The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s recommendation that Spain safeguards Jordi Sànchez’s political rights was not sufficient to change the ruling of the Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena. Once again, Llarena has refused Junts per Catalunya’s candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, Jordi Sànchez –detained in Soto del Real prison since 16 October– permission to attend the investiture convened by the President of Parliament, Roger Torrent, tomorrow, in the Catalan Parliament. He has also been denied permission to participate via a video link. The judge does not repeat his claim that Sànchez poses a potential flight risk, instead insisting that there is a risk of him reoffending since, if he were President of the Generalitat, his mandate "could be oriented towards breaking the constitutional order”.

In other words, Llarena argues that Sànchez mustn’t be allowed to attend the investiture specifically to avoid the possibility of him being voted president, with the increased risk of reoffending that this might entail. The judge continues to develop his theory that the "attack on the constitutional order" is "currently underway" and has not been stopped by the legal proceedings, the triggering of Article 155 or with the December elections. Llarena quoted whole chunks of the 'White Paper on the National Transition of Catalonia' which alludes to the limits of Spain’s ability to restrict Catalonia’s right to decide and mentions the eventual intervention of foreign mediators or European agents. Thus, Llarena tries to show that the strategy of internationalisation being pursued by some of the political leaders under investigation supports his argument that the process has not ended.

The judge mentions other indications that Sànchez might reoffend, such as the "existence of a political context in which certain sectors still persist in explicitly declaring that the independence of Catalonia must be achieved immediately" and "that these sectors are part of a plan for secession that seeks to illegally impose a constituent term”. Regarding Sànchez's commitment to work within the constitutional framework, the judge considers that "it cannot be ruled out that Mr. Sánchez has redirected his criminal objective by integrating himself into a candidature that proclaims it will carry out the exact same plan of action for which he currently stands trial".

Referring to the UN resolution, Justice Llarena argues that it is not legally binding for the Spanish justice and he reproaches Sànchez’s defence for failing to translate the text into Spanish, as it was originally issued in English.

In a written request this Tuesday, Sànchez's lawyer, Jordi Pina, asked either for the presidential candidate to be released, that he be granted leave to attend the plenary session in person or for him to be allowed to participate via a video link. The latter proposal was not included in Pina’s earlier petition, which was filed so that Sànchez could attend the first plenary –which was also denied– on 12 March. At the time Llarena rejected the request due to a "risk of reoffending".

In the new petition, Sànchez’s defence team reminded Llarena of the UN Human Rights Committee’s resolution of 23 March, which urged the Spanish government to take precautionary measures to guarantee the MP’s political rights. After officially calling for a plenary session on Friday at 10 am, the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, also sent a letter to Llarena on Monday in which he reminded the judge that Sànchez’s political rights remain intact.

Parliament prepares a symbolic act for tomorrow

Llarena's decision means that Torrent must decide what to do during tomorrow’s plenary session. As stated in yesterday’s ARA, Parliament is preparing a symbolic act, and not an investiture debate, like the one which took place with the investiture of Jordi Turull when the Supreme Court judge refused permission for it to take place.

Both Junts per Catalunya and ERC were already convinced that Llarena wouldn’t let Sànchez attend and they now have to decide whether to activate plan D or first wait and observe the reactions to the Sànchez issue at the international level and if it is possible to reform the presidency law in order for Puigdemont to once again stand as a candidate [and be elected by proxy]. In an interview with Spain’s Cadena SER radio station this Thursday, Torrent called on international organisations to intervene if Llarena refused to allow Sanchez to attend the plenary session.

Jordi Sànchez will, therefore, remain in Soto del Real. In fact, three days ago Llarena called for the Junts per Catalunya MP to attend the Supreme Court next Monday, to inform him of the exact nature of the charges which he faces in what is technically known as the investigative statements. All 25 individuals who have been charged with rebellion by the Supreme Court have been summonsed between April 16 and 18. Despite being a mere formality, legal sources point out that all those who stand accused could once again have the chance to make a statement in court.

April 13: Read our analysis of the impact of the release of Carles Puigdemont on Spanish politics here.

April 13: Speakership panel of the Catalan parliament votes to launch law suit of perversion of the course of justice against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena. Spanish attorney.general Rafael Català says that the decision "conceals a spirit of threat"

April 13: Javier Ortega Smith, Vox spokesperson and popular prosecution in the Supreme Court case against the Catalan leaders, says that many people were shot in the Civil War, but "without hate, with love".

Backgrounder (Rita Brito, Associated Press, April 13)

With Catalonia's leaders in jail, Spain hits the grassroots

Missing image.

Photo: Emilio Morenatti, AP (other graphics here)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — There are no membership fees, no roll calls, no official leaders and no headquarters. Attending the weekly meetings is optional.

They are loosely organized groups of neighborhood activists known as defense committees, and they have taken a key role in Catalonia's independence movement after its political leadership was jailed or fled the country.

Ever since Spain's crackdown on an unauthorized referendum on secession in October, hundreds of self-proclaimed Committees for the Defense of the Republic are waging a campaign of economic disruption, blocking roads and highways and temporarily seizing toll booths in defiance of the Spanish government.

Though the activists say they are non-violent, Spain sees their activities in a different light. A female activist was arrested this week on suspicion of terrorism while six other people were detained for public disturbances in connection with pro-independence protests in January.

The defense committees include people of all ages and walks of life. Josep, a 56-year-old economist who declined to give his last name for fear of being arrested, attended an assembly by the defense committee in his Barcelona neighborhood for the first time last week. He said he already belonged to two civil society groups campaigning for Catalan independence, but wanted to do more.

"Only good intentions, non-violent marches and yellow ribbons haven't been enough," he said, referring to the ribbons that many pro-independence activists wear in support of jailed Catalan leaders they regard as political prisoners.

The defense committees were created last year in around 60 towns across Catalonia. Originally named Committees for the Defense of the Referendum, their primary goal was to safeguard voting centers where the banned independence referendum was held on Oct. 1.

Today, members say there is a network of over 300 committees, also known as CDRs. Many have their own unique logos and separate profile pages on social media platforms, which they use to gather people to their protests.

Some rural CDRs have just four people, while others in Barcelona draw over 200 participants to their assemblies.

Protests also vary in style and size.

Last week in the town of Figueres, a protest organized by the local defense committee looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie. Dozens of participants wearing white masks stood in absolute silence for a half-hour at the local town square to call for the freedom of jailed separatists.

On Saturday in Barcelona other groups organized a 24-hour vigil in which over 200 people took turns walking in circles around a former penitentiary.

But amid heightened tensions in Catalonia, some defense committees engage in more impactful actions, like blocking highways and train stations.

"If you don't disturb the economy, no one will listen to you," said a 55-year-old female member of the CDR in Barcelona's Eixample neighborhood. She declined to give her name because she feared arrest.

The woman arrested Tuesday was initially investigated for rebellion and terrorism but Spain's National Court lowered the potential charges to public disturbances and released her, but barred her from leaving the country. She is suspected of being one of the network's leaders, which the activists deny, saying they have no leaders.

Spanish newspaper El Pais published what it says is an audio message by the woman in which she describes plans for a major workers' strike that never happened. The voice in the recording speaks vaguely of plans to paralyze Barcelona's port, disrupt communication lines and block train tracks, "but without violence."

The Spanish government views such actions as sabotage against the state. Interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido has described the CDRs as "organized cells capable of causing damage, disturbances and of breaking normality."

Still, some security experts say such violence should not be equated with terrorism.

"We could debate to a certain point if these actions can be considered violence. Not physical violence, but some form of violence," said Sonia Andolz a political scientist and lecturer on international conflicts and security at the University of Barcelona. But for it to be considered terrorism, it would mean "having a political organization that wants to cause terror in the civil population," she added, recalling Spain's history of deadly attacks by Basque separatists and recently by Islamic extremists.

In a separate investigation, six men believed to be members of the CDRs were arrested Tuesday by Catalan police, which are under direct control by Madrid under emergency rules imposed after separatist leaders defiantly proclaimed Catalonia independent last fall. The men were released after questioning and face public disorder offenses for their participation in tense protests outside the Catalan parliament in January.

Hundreds of people protested against the arrests in Barcelona on Tuesday, holding up signs saying "I am CDR." Mariano Alvarez, a 61-year-old Madrid native who has lived in Barcelona since 1984, said if Spanish authorities are trying to intimidate people like him from protesting in the streets, it may have the opposite effect.

"They cannot detain all of us," he said.

April 12: 44 Members of the European Parliament , from all groups except the People's Party of Europe, sign  "Manifesto for Dialogue in Catalonia" demanding release of political prisoners, end of issuing of European arrest warrants for Catalan leaders in exile and the EU to facilitate negotiations between Catalonia and Spain (below). Signatories include  Tanja Fajon, the vice president of the Socialists and Democrats in the European chamber, the former Slovenian foreign minister Ivo Vajgl and Barbara Spinelli, the daughter of one of the EU's founders. The signatories are from Slovenia, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Scotland, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque country.

Manifesto for Dialogue in Catalonia

- Whereas on March 23rd, 5 Catalan MPs Jordi Turull, Carme Forcadell, Raül Romeva, Josep Rull and Dolors Bassa entered into pre-trial detention following the decision of the Spanish Supreme Court and a judiciary process was open on them on rebellion charges and supposedly misuse of funds. They risk between 15 and 25 years of prison;

- Whereas the 5 Catalan MPs are thus in prison before trial together with Quim Forn and Oriol Junqueras, also Catalan politicians and members of the Catalan Government who have been in pre-trial detention since November 2nd 2017. Also in pre-trial detention since October 16th are Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, leaders of two of the largest pro-independence organizations in Catalonia. All of them are charged with rebellion too, risking from 15 to 25 years in prison;

- Whereas President and MP Carles Puigdemont was arrested in Germany after a European arrest warrant was issued by Spain on March 23rd. Clara Ponsatí is in Scotland while MP Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret remain free in Belgium and will cooperate with the judiciary. MP Marta Rovira and CUP spokesperson Anna Gabriel are exiled to Switzerland;

- Whereas the rebellion they refer to is the 1st of October referendum where, according to Human Rights Watch, 893 people were injured by the Spanish police and 2.100.000 people voted. All of the above, with the exception of Marta Rovira, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, have been members of the Catalan Government during the events or President of the Catalan Parliament in the case of Carme Forcadell;

Whereas on the legal side:

- as established in Article 472 of the Criminal Code, peaceful and orderly demonstrations do not constitute a crime of rebellion, which always entails violence and is punished with a sentence of between fifteen and twenty-five years of jail. The fact that rebellion does not apply to the present case was confirmed by Mr. Diego López Garrido, one of the experts who were in charge of drafting the content of this article;

- calling, organising and holding a referendum is not a crime in Spain. The Spanish parliament expressly legalised the matter by means of the Organic Law 2/2005, which modified the Criminal Code in order to remove those articles (506 bis, 521 bis and 576 bis), which had previously considered this matter a crime;

- the Spanish Government confirmed on February 26th that no public funds were used to organise the 1st of October referendum;

- according to Spanish criminal law, it is possible to stay in pre-trial detention up to 4 years;

We, the signatories, call on:

- Spain’s judiciary to release the nine Catalan political prisoners;

- Germany’s judiciary not to extradite Carles Puigdemont as the possibility of a fair trial is remote;

- Belgium, UK and Switzerland not to extradite Ponsatí, Comín, Puig,Serret, Rovira and Gabriel for the same reason;

- EU institutions to mediate in the conflict between Catalonia and Spain to find a political solution in the frame of a dialogue without pre-conditions.

April 12: Platform "On a Peaceful Footing" (En Peu De Pau) reads manifesto asserting the peaceful, non-violent character of the disobedience of the CDRs (below, in Barcelona).

Missing image.

April 12: Case against Tamara Carrasco, facing charges of "rebellion" and "terrorism", downgraded by judge to one of disturbing public order. Carrasco is released on condition of not leaving her municipality excepot for work reporting to local judiciary every week.

April 12: Supreme Court judge Llarena refuses to allow Jordi Sànchez to attend investiture session planned for tomorrow in Catalan parliament.

April 12: Fernando Martínez-Maillo (PP general coordinator): "The CDRs are very like the kale borroka."

April 12:  Guardia Civil searches headquarters of Diplocat, the Catalan foreign ministry closed down under article 155.

April 12: The Spanish prosecutor-general looks to add charges of conspiracy and disrupting the constitutional order to the European arrest warrant against Carles Puigdemont.

Snapshot (El Nacional, April 11)

ETA survivor: "Lifting toll barriers is like shooting someone dead?"

Robert Manrique, defender of victims of terrorism and himself a survivor of ETA's 1987 bombing of a Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, has expressed confusion over the accusation of terrorism against members of the Catalan Committees for Defence of the Republic (CDR). He asked whether lifting barriers on a toll road is similar to shooting someone dead.

"It seems a complete exaggeration to me, and a way of using terrorism to cover other things. I cannot come to understand that lifting toll barriers or blocking roads is equivalent to planting a bomb in a supermarket or killing someone with a shot to the back of the neck. It doesn't make sense. I've spoken with many victims these days and it blows our minds", he said in an interview with Basque station Radio Euskadi.

"Now, when farmers block a road to call for a subsidy will they also be accused of terrorism? Anyone who thinks differently as to what is supposed to be the official line, will they be accused of crimes," he asked.

Manrique said that he even knows there are survivors of real terrorist attacks and families of victims "who are members of the CDR".

He ended by quoting a sarcastic question put to him this morning by a fellow survivor of terrorism: "in which hospital are the wounded which the CDRs have supposedly caused?"

Translation: El Nacional

April 11: (El Nacional) The "evidence" against the CDR member: a Google maps screenshot and a yellow whistle

April 11: Catalan government in exile expresses solidarity with CDRs.

April 11: JxCat, ERC and CUP register joint motion against criminalisation of the CDRs for debate in the Catalan parliament (below).

Document

Draft resolution against the criminalisation of the Defence Committees of the Republic (CDR)

Proposal for a resolution to condemn the criminalisation of the Defence Committees of the Republic (CDRs) by the Spanish state apparatus, to be processed by special urgency procedure in accordance with the provisions of article 107 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure. With the following text:

Explanatory statement

Through their official social networks the Defense Committees of the Republic of Catalonia have published the following statement, which we reproduce verbatim:

"In a week in which we CDRs have taken the lead in street protest, we have seen how the mass media of the regime has begun to spread lies so as to attack and criminalise us. This campaign, jointly orchestrated with the repressive forces of the Spanish state, aims to create a context in which, by targetting us for political persecution, repression towards us can be legitimised and legal persecution can be justified as well.

“The regime’s media and political parties do not hesitate to invent an alleged kale borroka that does not and will not exist. What really frightens them is the existence of a united, cheerful and combative people. What scares them is that we practice active pacificism as a method of social change; what scares them is that we have the ability to stop the country. They fear that every time we organise the more aware we will become of the power we have.

“They have the force of the law, the power of the press, the violence of the truncheon and all the economic resources. As for us, we have nothing but an inspiring project: the building of a better country, from the bottom up and for everyone. We also have each other, each and every one of us shoulder to shoulder, and we have that which most frightens them—the future.

“Because we in the CDRs are students, farmers, firefighters, unemployed, shopkeepers, waiters, receptionists, teachers, self-employed, carers, computer technicians, cooks, hairdressers, postal workers, industrial workers, retirees… we in the CDRs are the people and we are here to build the Republic.

“We therefore denounce the attempts at criminalisation--of the press, of the law and of all the powers-that-be of a repressive and fascist state. Fear has changed sides and we will continue in the street, achieving our goals through non-violent, committed action.

“They won’t have enough jails to hold a peaceful people set on struggle.”

For these reasons, the undersigned Parliamentary Groups present the following:

Draft resolution

First. The Parliament of Catalonia considers protest, mobilisations and the peaceful, non-violent resistance and civil disobedience typical of a mature democracy as absolutely legitimate forms of political action.

Second. The Parliament of Catalonia denounces and unambiguously opposes the operations used for the State against the Defense Committees of the Republic by the different police forces and judicial bodies, in repeated violation of the civil and political rights of citizens.

Third. · The Parliament of Catalonia condemns criminalisation of social protest, repression and institutional violence and stands in support of freedom of expression, ideological freedom and freedom to demonstrate, and of the popular will favouring the right to self-determination and the construction from below of a better country for everyone in the form of a Republic.

Carles Riera Albert (Representative, CUP)

Elsa Artadi I Vila (Spokesperson, JxCat)  

Sergi Sabrià I Benito (Spokesperson, ERC)

April 11: Steve Bannon, former far-right Trump advisor, to visit Spain on invitation of Spanish.chauvinist outfit Vox in order to "combat separatist propaganda outside Spain".

April 11: Vera Jourová, EU justice commissioner, states that the Schleswig-Holstein court "acted according to the rules" in its tretament of Carles Puigdemont.

April 11: PSOE federal secretary Pedro Sánchez sees no reason to apply anti-terrorist legislation against the CDRs.

April 11: Act of homage to Oriol Junqueras takes place in the Auonomous University of Barcelona's Faculty of Philosophy and Letters after being banned by the Department of Economics and Business.

April 11: Supreme Court prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, on the program Espejo Público: “What is happening in Catalonia with the CDRs is a similar situation to what happened in the Basque Country with groups of young people committing what they called low-intensity terrorism."

April 11: PSC secretary Miquel Iceta: "The actions of the CDRs are not terrorism."

Snapshot (Ara, April 11)

Tarragona woman questioned for hanging a banner against the police on her balcony and publishing it on the web

She has been charged with a hate crime and must appear in Tarragona Court 2 on Wednesday

A woman from Tarragona will be questioned in court for hanging a banner on her own balcony which read: “Police, go home". The woman took a photo of the façade of her building showing banner and posted it on social networks with the message "A thousand eyes are watching you, we will not let you hurt us".

She has posted a message on Twitter in which she explains: "On Wednesday April 11 at 10:00 a.m. I have to appear in Court Number 2. The police have reported me for a hate crime after hanging this banner and tweeting about it. I guess I’m lucky I don’t know how to rap”¹. Messages of support for her have also appeared on the web, encouraging people to accompany her to court.

Footnote:

1. A number of hip-hop artists have recently been convicted in Spain for lyrics and/or Twitter posts that were deemed to be offensive.

Translation: Ara

April 10: Xavier Domènech easily wins the position of general secretary of Podemos Catalonia and his team wins 37 of the 44 places on the Regional Citizens Council [state executive, in Australian terms].

April 10: Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau: "The charge of terrorism against the CDRs is a piece of madness and an insult to the victims of terrorism."

April 10: Demonstrations across Catalonia against the arrest of CDR member Tamara Carrasco (below, St James Square, Barcelona).

Missing image.

Missing image.

April 10: European Commission spokeperson  Margaritis Schinas avoids answering journalists' questions as to whether the CDRs are responsible for "terrorism".

April 10: CUP continues to reject the candidature for president of Jordi Sànchez, saying that Carles Puigdemont is the only legitimate candidate.

April 10: Supreme Court bench rejects complaint, brought by a member of the Catalan police, against National Court judge Carmen Lamela for having sent Catalan ministers to prison.

April 10: Spanish prosecutor general's office extradites presumed smuggler to Germany with the comment that "in no way have the crimes in question been evaluated" and that this is "in loyalty to the spirit that has to prevail in the execution of European arrest warrants."

April 10: Civil Guard ends up arresting only one CDR member, Tamara Carrasco, facing charges of "terrorism" and rebellion. Nonetheless, the provisions of Spanish anti-terrorism law are not applied in her case and she is immediately able to see a lawyer.

April 10: JxCat, ERC, CUP and CatECP condemn arrests of CDR members. PP leader Xavier García Albiol finds the action "very gratifying".

April 10: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent on Catalan public channel TV3: "We have to be able to form a government, but not at any price."

April 10: Civil Guard arrest eight CDR members, accusing them of "rebellion" and "terrorism".

April 9: (Below) Letter of Esteban González Pons, PP Member of the European Parliament, in reaction to the release of Puigdemont by regional court of Schleswig-Holstein. Sent to all MEPs yesterday.

April 9: (El Nacional) German newspaper 'Bild' accuses Spanish journalist of promoting terrorism.

April 9: The dean of the School of Economy and Business in the Autonomous University of Barcelona prohibits an act in solidarity with Oriol Junqueras from being held in its premises.

April 9: PP to demand withdrawal of the Carles Puigdemont's right to delegate his vote to another MP in the Catalan parliament now that he is free to move in Gremany.

April 9: Meritxell Serret, agriculture minister exiled in Brussels who has surrendered her seat in the Catalan parliament, to head up ERC team for the structures of the republic in exile.

April 9: CUP affiliate Endavant states that "the right to self-determination cannot be small change in negotiations with the [Spanish] state."

April 9: Joan Herrera, former national coordinator for Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), says on TV3 that the unilateral road to a referendum has not worked and that it is time to "abandon the trenches and stitch ourselves back together".

April 9: Education minister Clara Ponsati, in exile in Edinburgh, says that if judge Pablo Llarena rules  again--despite UN Human Rights Committee statement of concern--that Jordi Sànchez cannot be invested, Crales Puigdemont should return as candidate.

April 9: Felipe VI, in Barcelona for inauguration ceremony for new intake of judges, met by demonstration of CDR and students from the Higher School of Music (ESMUC), located in the same building where ceremony is taking place.

Comment (Esther Vera, Ara, April 9)

A hammer blow to Spain

Rajoy’s government now has more problems on its hands than it realises

The hammer blow delivered by Germany has provided an opportunity for all those involved in Catalonia’s independence process to rethink their position. The German court’s decision not to recognise the crime of rebellion, as part of President Carles Puigdemont’s extradition request, puts Spain in an awkward position in the eyes of its European neighbours. Spanish justice, at the hands of Judge Pablo Llarena, has made the wrong move against a true democracy where those in power do not wield their influence through the courts, nor through university rectors¹ and sympathetic politicians. Spain’s loss of face concerns the ongoing cases in Germany, Belgium and also in Switzerland, where one would have to be truly naïve to believe the surprise decision to act on the European Arrest Warrant for Hervé Falciani is a mere coincidence. The Spanish police arrested Falciani when they needed someone extradited from Switzerland².

Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein court decided to release the President of the Generalitat and it now needs to decide whether to extradite him for misappropriation of public funds. While the German Justice Minister covers her back by pre-emptively showing her support for judicial decisions, Madrid has threatened to take the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It’s a stand-off between Spain and Germany.

The court’s decision complicates Justice Llarena’s case, exposing its political bias. Meanwhile, Puigdemont, the ministers in Brussels, Marta Rovira and Anna Gabriel remain free; and Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Sànchez, Carme Forcadell, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull, Dolors Bassa, Joaquim Forn and Raül Romeva remain behind bars, hundreds of kilometres away from their families. The same day as the president’s extradition was thrown out of court, Major Josep Lluís Trapero, an exemplary public servant, as demonstrated on 17 August [the terrorist attacks on Barcelona and Cambrils and its aftermath], was charged with the sort of crimes you would expect from the Mafia or a terrorist organisation.

Politics

You don’t have to be brave to be a politician, but conducting politics takes bravery.
The German court’s decision means Spain can change its strategy, while those who favour independence, who up until now have been forced to improvise, can make long-term plans. However, recognizing new political circumstances calls for courage in assessing the situation.

To begin with, Spain’s justice will have to review the charges brought against the Catalan leaders and the PP government will have to decide whether its priority is winning the war against the Ciutadans party in the council elections next year or facing up to the inevitable normalisation and recognition of the independence movement as a key player in Catalan, Spanish and European politics. Rajoy’s government now has more problems on its hands than it realises and it would have us believe. Germany has no desire to have internal problems and Chancellor Merkel is unlikely to contradict her Justice Minister in order to appease Spain, her European partner. As for the PP, however, Spain’s Foreign Minister has slammed the German minister and the PP leader in Catalonia played down the court’s significance, accusing it of being "regional".

Spain’s bilateral relations with its European partners will become increasingly strained and its reputation affected by evidence of the politicization of justice, influence peddling and abuse of power. Spain can still boast of its economic growth in recent years, but this is tempered by warnings that its public pension system is unsustainable. The economic gains are overshadowed by its management of Catalonia and the problem continues to grow.

Internally, Rajoy has begun to see his potential successors showing their hand. He will have to choose between digging his heels in or engaging in politics and negotiating. Unfortunately, nothing makes one think he will choose the latter option.

Civic-mindedness

In the pro-independence camp, the court’s decision has boosted its collective morale. The humiliation of seeing the President of the Generalitat extradited has been delayed or perhaps vanished altogether. The strategy of appealing to help from abroad is taking shape and the internationalisation of the process is becoming a reality. Puigdemont’s insistence on calling for talks with Spain "with no red lines" and with "mutual respect", and his claim that "independence is not the only possible solution", ought to lower the risk that the boost of confidence gained this week might lead to deadlock. The struggle continues and Jordi Sànchez is the third candidate for the presidency since the election on 21 December. The Spanish government could play smart and accept the decision. But they won’t. Once they have shown their contempt for the political rights of the winning parliamentary majority following the elections, they will need to choose whether to go to the polls once again or initiate plan D.

The tools of those who favour independence continue to be a civic-minded spirit and democratic majorities.

Translation: Ara

Footnotes

2. ERC leader Marta Rovira recently fled to Switzerland.

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Week ending April 8

174 nights with political prisoners

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Main events, April 2-April 8

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April 8: Oriol Junqueras sends message to Felipe González thanking him for his position.

April 8: Former Spanish prime minister Felipe González (PSOE), interviewed by Jordi Evole on the Sixth channel, says he would prefer that the Catalan leaders in jail ("not political prisoners", according to González) were released until convicted of a definite crime.

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April 8: Voting intention trends, Spanish State: average of 12 pollsters

Missing image.

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Comment (Victoria Prego, El Independiente, April 5)

A devastating blow against democratic Spain

The decision of the judges of the Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein is a very harsh blow for the Spanish Supreme Court, for the Government and for all Spaniards who feel deeply that the challenge posed to the unity of Spain by the secessionists has undoubtedly been accompanied by violence of all kinds, including that exercised against all Catalan society opposed to independence.

The situation could not be more negative, not only in judicial but also in political terms. Because the tremendous thing is that, thanks to the decision of some German judges, the leader of the rebellion will not be able to be judged for this crime, and that will create a very striking difference of treatment with respect to the other defendants. For public opinion and, of course, above all for the independence movement, it will undoubtedly weaken the solidity of the legal argumentation of the Supreme Court's investigating judge Pablo Llarena. The prestige of our judges will be thrown into question even more sharply than it has already by the sector that defends that independent republic. But the political offensive will take on formidable sharpness because this decision of the German judges will be interpreted as something similar to an acquittal on the most serious principal issue: the attempt to overthrow the democratic constitutional State that continues to embrace us all.

From now on we can expect an authentic takeover of the streets and of the dominant narrative in Catalonia by the independentists and an even greater harassment than that it has habitually suffered of the population that has always defended the unity of Spain. Without any doubt, that is a very important victory for those who want to break up our country: it is an injection of morale of enormous magnitude. The "peaceful" resistance that we have been suffering for months is going to intensify and it will turn into greater harassment. On the other side, that of the defenders of the Constitution and the unity of Spain, what is going to intensify is the profound desolation that this blow has provoked.

The damage to the country and its future cannot be measured at the moment but it looks like becoming enormous. And belief in a Europe that supports our aspirations to belong to a club in which the freedoms and rights of its members are truly defended and the legal systems of each member nation are respected and supported--that belief is probably going to get weaker because this is not the first blow that Constitutional and democratic Spain has received from venerated Europe.When the European Court of Human Rights overturned the so-called Parot doctrine, it dealt an incomprehensible and unjustifiable blow to our country, which meant that not only ETA's greatest murderers went free long before their many crimes deserved, but also serial rapists, only to return to committing their crimes.

And now this. Many Spaniards are going to start turning their backs on that Europe that we had been waiting for, for so, so long. Desolation, bitterness, disenchantment, disappointment. There's little more that can be said today.

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April 7: Madrid demonstration for right to decide. Banner reads: "Freedom for the political prisoners. Democracy! Republic(s)!

Missing image.

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April 7: ANC states that while it understands the motives for proposing Jordi Sànchez as president, its candidate remains Carles Puigdemont.

April 7: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent says he will propose Jordi Sànchez for the position of president of Catalonia at the next parliamentary session.

April 7: Unnamed sources close to Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy say that while he is PM "he will never negotiate with Puigdemont".

April 7: Spanish-centralist bikies bash up a group hanging yellow ribbons on a roadside fence in the town of Artés (Bagès).

April 7: The PP discards the possibility of challenging the recognition by the Catalan parliament of the vote of Carles Puigdemont.

April 7: Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis says that the comments of the German attorney-general on the Puigdemont case were "unfortunate".

April 7: In Berlin media conference Puigdemont calls for release of political prisoners, investiture of Jordi Sànchez and the beginning of negotiations between the Spanish government and a newly constituted Catalan government. Vilaweb account here.

April 7: PP Catalonia leader Xavier García Albiol says that the release of Puigdemont could undermine Spanish confidence in Europan institutions.

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Franco: "German justice isn't what it was, Adolf"
Hitler: "If it were up to me, you would already have Puigdemont in Montjuic Castle" [place of imprisonment and execution of Catalan president Lluís Companys, handed over to Franco by the Gestapo in 1940]
[Ferreres, Ara, April 7]

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Opinion (Editorial, Ara, April 6)

Spain’s justice system exposed for all the world to see

In Germany, accusing someone of a crime requires evidence rather than bending the Criminal Code

The Territorial Court of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has rejected "rebellion" as grounds to extradite Carles Puigdemont as there is no evidence of the violence that is required to sustain the accusation. Moreover, the court has released Puigdemont on bail while it considers whether to grant Spain’s extradition request for other crimes, such as misappropriation of public funds.

The German court’s decision undermines the foundation of the case which Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has been building against the leaders of the Catalan independence process. This is based on the claim that violence occurred both during the demonstration outside Catalonia’s Ministry of Economy on 20 September and in the passive resistance by members of the public outside polling stations on the 1 October. The German judges did not need to deliberate for very long to conclude that no violence took place in either instance. It remains to be seen how Llarena and the prosecutor's office will react, but Spain’s loss of face on the international stage is, at any rate, undeniable.

It is still possible that Germany will end up extraditing Puigdemont for the crime of misappropriation of public funds, an outcome which the Spanish government would attempt to depict as a victory. Either way, they’ve lost. Those who accuse the Catalan leaders of staging a "coup", those who claim that what the Spanish justice system did would have happened in any country have been overruled and their arguments defeated. Is it simply that the German judges have also fallen victim to pro-independence propaganda? Where are those who said, just the other day when Puigdemont was arrested, that Germany was a reliable country? Now we can see they were right: Germany truly is a reliable country where accusing someone of a crime requires evidence rather than bending the Criminal Code.

Puigdemont may have to spend some time in a Spanish prison, but such precedents, and perhaps also those of the Belgian and British courts, are bound to make it hard for the Spanish Supreme Court to find the other defendants guilty of rebellion. It may well happen, but in the eyes of the world it would be interpreted more as an act of revenge than of justice. The Catalan pro-independence process has brought Spain to a historical crossroads: it must now decide if it wishes, once again, to isolate itself and to turn its back on the world.

Yesterday it chose to do just that. While the German and Belgian courts allowed the accused to walk free, National Court judge Carmen Lamela filed charges of sedition against the former head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, who —wait for it— also stands accused of belonging to a "criminal organisation", in an indictment that includes Superintendent Teresa Laplana as well as former Ministry of Interior officials Cèsar Puig and Pere Soler. And what crime did Trapero allegedly commit? He failed to use force against the members of the public who were protecting the ballot boxes on the 1 October.

The situation remains complicated, but we must be grateful to the European judges, who have seriously upset the Spanish State’s plans. Thank goodness.

Translation: Ara

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April 6: #Spain: UN Expert @davidakaye urges authorities to refrain from criminal charge of rebellion against political figures/protesters in Catalonia that carries jail sentence up to 30yrs. Such sentence "raises serious risks of deterring wholly legitimate speech"https://t.co/pstK3T51Zg pic.twitter.com/zwS6Y24Zvu
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) 6 d’abril de 2018

April 6: UEFA opens proceedings against Barcelona FC for allowing fans to release yellow balloons during Wednesday's Barça-Roma Champions League game.

April 6: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena studying the feasability of appealing the decision of the Schleswig-Holstein court before Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

April 6: Katarina Barley, the social-democrat German attorney-general, says that the decision of the Schleswig-Holstein court to release Carles Puigdemont and discard the charge of rebellion is "absolutely correct" and calls on the Spain-Catalonia conflict to be solved politically.

April 6: Carles Puigdemont leaves Neumünster jail and makes a brief statement: "I would like to thank everyone for your support and solidarity. I would like to thank all the workers in this centre for their professionalism and respect. I have also received solidarity from the inmates. My best wishes to them and their families. I ask for the immediate release of all the comrades who are still in Spanish jails. It is a disgrace for Europe that there are political prisoners in a European democracy. Our struggle is not only for self-determination but also for democracy and this struggle affects all European citizens. There are no excuses for Spanish authorities not starting a dialogue with Catalan leaders. We need a political solution."

April 6: Exiled Catalan health minister Toni Comin calls on CatECP to allow formation of Catalan government by having two of its MPs abstain on the investiture of Jordi Sànchez.

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April 6: Media reaction to the release of Puigdemont

• La Vanguardia: "Germany frees Puigdemont and rejects the charge of rebellion"
• La Razon: "Germany complicates the trial of Puigdemont by not accusing him of rebellion"
• El Periodico: "Germany knocks over the lawsuit for rebellion"
• El País: "Germany denies rebellion and leaves Puigdemont free"
• El Mundo: "German legal system stops Spain putting Puigdemont on trial for rebellion"

Missing image.

• ABC: "European legal system feeds coup-making"
• Arcadi Espada (El Mundo): "The decision of the Regional Court of Scheswig-Holstein is a Spanish catastrophe. An 1898 [loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines]. Confirmation of the umpteen patriotic wars that have been won by the baddies."
• Hermann Tertsch (ABC): "The judges of Scheswig-Holstein have inflicted immense damage on European law and the European community of values."
• Carlos Herrera (COPE radio): The German decision "humiliates Spanish magistrates who have also fought against criminal movements that are contagious in Europe:"

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April 6: Reactions of political figures to the German court decision to release Carles Puigdemont on bail and discount the charge of rebellion against him.

• Irene Montoro (Podemos spokesperson, Spanish parliament) says that decision demonstrates the failure of the Spanish government's strategy of using the courts for political ends and demands negotiations between the parties.
• Carlos Carrizosa (Citizens' spokesperson, Catalan parliament): "The European extradition system has to be reformed."
• Soraya Saenz de Santamaria: "We are a state characterised by respect for court decisions and this time we shall behave in the same way."
• Raül Romeva (Catalan minister for foreign affairs, in Estremera jail presently awaiting trial): "The free and independent German legal system again confirms the evidence: we are a peaceful people. We have always said it, we have always shown it."
• Miquel Iceta (leader, Party of Socialists of Catalonia) says that the decision of the German court is "very good", just as are the decisions of Spanish courts.
• Josep Rull (Catalan minister for lands and sustainability, presently in Estremera jail awaiting trial): "Hugely happy! Thanks to everyone who has supported the cause of Catalonia!"
• Xavier García Albiol (PP leader in Catalonia): "While respecting the decisions of the German legal system, I can only say that you need to live here, especially in the small and middle-sized municipalities, to understand what is really happening in Catalonia."
• Rafael Català (Spanish attorney-general): "The decision confirms the independence of the law in Spain and Germany."
• Xavier Domènech (parliamentary spokeperson, CatECP): "The German justice system's dismantling of every attempt to mount a general case of rebellion is good news. It leaves the performance of the Supreme Court and the PP and Citizens who have used the courts to pursue political ends in an unsustainable position."
• Roger Torrent (Speaker, Catalan parliament): "Very good news, President Puigdemont. We've always said that there was never any violence. The charge of rebellion is totally without foundation. This political persecution on the basis of a completely false narrative has to stop."
• Joan Tardà (ERC spokesperson, Spanish congress): "What a thumping they've just got!"
• Carles Riera (CUP parliamentary spokesperson): "The release of Carles Puigdemont in Germany is a republican victory. Let's confirm it by investing him as president."
• Catalan National Assembly (ANC): "The Spanish State discovers the separation of powers."
• Andreu Van den Eynde (defence lawyer for Oriol Junqueras): "German justice system says that there was no violence. Curious that this coincides with the line of defence we've been pursuing."

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Comment (Àlez Gutierrez, Ara, April 5)

For lack of images of violence, let’s fabricate some!

The attempt to criminalise the CDRs is crass, but it goes unpunished

In the short span of a few days we have been witness to two cases of flagrant fabrication of a news item by Spanish media where totally unrelated photographs were used to illustrate a story that sought to encourage a tougher crackdown on Catalonia by endorsing a narrative of violence that simply does not hold water.

Madrid daily La Razón printed an editorial decrying the alleged violence of the CDRs, Catalonia’s Committees for the Defence of the Republic. On their website, the piece came with a photo showing a violent assault by a group of fascist militants in Valencia city. The paper probably figured that they could get away with it because one of people in the picture wore a sports shirt with red and yellow stripes, even though it meant portraying the victim as the culprit.

Meanwhile OK Diario reported that a gas canister had exploded outside a car dealer in Barcelona city as the work of Catalan separatists, even though the business that was targeted denied any political motivation behind the attack. Their story was accompanied by a photograph of Deportivo Alavés football hooligans taken in Vitoria, in the Basque Country.

This is not just sloppy reporting. There are two explanations for this shambolic photographic mess: firstly, there is an obsessive need to believe their own narrative; secondly, they know they will get away with that kind of crass manipulation.

No football Cup final on Catalan TV

TV3, the Catalan public tv network, won’t be showing the Spanish football Cup final [which Barcelona FC fans are looking forward to]. The Catalan public broadcaster claims that it cannot afford the broadcasting rights. How does Madrid’s ABC report the story? It starts like this: “Amid a secessionist crisis in Catalonia, TV3 gets entangled in a fresh controversy”.

Well, didn’t you just hear that they are cash-strapped? None of the words by the general manager of “the region’s public TV network” —as they refer to TV3— suggest a political motivation. Nevertheless, ABC can’t help themselves and wrap up their item with this statement: “Even though football and politics are like chalk and cheese, many insist on mixing one with the other and this has become a commonplace occurrence in recent years”. Hey, ABC, guess who’s just tried to do precisely that, even though the actual facts do not add up?

Translation: Ara

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April 5: Van Wymersch, spokeperson for the Brussels prosecutor's office, says that an investigation is under way into the placing by Spanish secret service agents of a GPS device that gave them the location of the car used by Carles Puigdemont.

April 5: Belgian court imposes no bail conditions on three Catalan ministers (Toni Comin, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig) facing extradition hearing in Brussels.

April 5: Regional high court of Schleswig-Holstein rules that no case of rebellion, as claimed in the European arrest warrant issued by judge Pablo llarena, exists against Carles Puigdemont and releases him on €75,000 bail. The court still has to decide whether Puigdemont should be extradited on the ground of embezzlement of public funds.

April 5: Former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar, president of the think-tank the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES), tells a FAES Valencia forum on "The Valencian Community and Catalan Nationalism" that "there can be no negotiation with independentism because it carried out a full-scale rebellion" and "has not been defeated".

April 5: JxCat formally proposes Jordi Sànchez as candidate for president of Catalan government.

April 5: Hervé Falciani, the French-Italian computer systems expert who released the names of 130,000 tax-evading account-holders with the Swiss branch of his employer HSBC and with other banks is released on bail in Madrid while the Swiss request for his extradition is heard by the National Court. Falciani cannot leave his municipality without police permission. The Spanish legal repsonse to the Swiss request for his extradition, made a year ago, came on March 19, the same day that Carles Puigdemont visited Geneva, where ERC leader Marta Rovira and CUP leader Anna Gabriel, charged by the Spanish Supreme Court with "rebellion", are presently in exile.

April 5: Catalan parliament establishes commission to investigate last August's terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.

April 5: Òmnium Cultural launches its "Tomorrow It Could Be You" campaign, directed against the censureship and repression of freedom of expression being imposed from the Spanish State.

April 5 (from April 4): In the last debate between candidates for the leadership of Podemos (Podem) in Catalonia, Xavier Domènech is subject of a protest for his support to a demonstration called by Òmnium Cultural. Other candidates and members of the audience demand a greater distance by Podem from the independence movement, seen as exclusionary.

April 5: Citizens' motion in the Catalan parliament, calling on speaker Roger Torrent to propose an "investible" candidate for president lost by 94 votes against (JxCat, ERC, CatECP and PSC) and 40 in favour (Citizens, PP). Carles Puigdemont's vote is recognised by the parliament.

April 5: CDR of Barcelona district l'Eixample organises 24-hour walk around the city's now decommissioned Model Prison, scene of many horrors under the Franco dictatorship.

April 5: National Court judge Carmen Lamela charges Josep Lluís Trapero, the former head of the Catalan police sacked under article 155, with "sedition" and "criminal organisation".

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Document (April 5)

Carles Puigdemont's letter to the JxCat parliamentary group

Neumünster prison

April 5, 2018

Dear colleagues and friends of the parliamentary group,      

Today, I am held in Germany and am forced to address you by letter instead of via the usual meetings that we have in Brussels, where we can pass moments together that are very important for me. I miss being able to speak to you directly and I miss sharing your reflections, but I feel your warmth and your support.       

As you know, on March 23 last the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations issued a number of precautionary rulings according to which the Spanish State has to guarantee MP Jordi Sànchez full exercise of his political rights. The decision is the result of the violation of his right to present himself in the investiture debate as candidate for election as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, a right that he had, and has, given his status as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia.       

This is not a minor or trivial ruling but one of supreme importance. The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, based in Geneva, is an organism that oversees compliance by States that are signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  All States that adhere to it, among them the Spanish State, are obliged to comply with the resolutions that the Human Rights Committee dictates. It goes without saying that the resolution that affects MP Jordi Sànchez was issued with extraordinary speed, no doubt due to the seriousness of the facts of the case and the irreversibility of the violation of his rights in the event that this process drags on excessively.       

We have an unprecedented opportunity, which we must take advantage of legally and politically, for defending our cause at the international level. We must demand of the Spanish State that it fulfil the United Nations’ measures and preserve the rights of MP Jordi Sànchez as a candidate to the presidency of the Generalitat of Catalonia. So doing is an act of justice that repairs the damage caused by the powers of the Spanish State. So doing pressures the state to behave like the rest of the countries of Europe and respect the political rights of everybody, including those of the minorities it would like to silence. Since the Spanish State does not behave democratically of its own free will, let’s at the least make sure that it responds to those International bodies that it has an obligation to obey, in accordance with agreements signed.      

In the event that the Spanish State chooses to ignore international law and the request of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations and persists in its political and ideological persecution, this will once again demonstrate that it is capable of anything in order to alter the normal functioning of democracy in Catalonia. That, quite a real possibility, we must also take advantage of  in defence of Catalonia’s political freedoms, adding to our cause  a further violation of our country’s civil rights.       

I take this opportunity to repeat our commitment to the formation of a government, to help strengthen us and to implement the mandate of the December 21 election.       

In the hope that we can meet again very soon, I personally send you a big embrace,       

Carles Puigdemont and Casamajó       

President of the Generalitat of Catalonia

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April 5: Jordi Turull withdraws as JxCat candidate for president of Catalonia, and Jordi Sànchez indicates that he is willing to again be candidate.

April 5: Xavier Domènech (leader, CatECP) on radio RAC 1: "In no sense are we in a situation of violence in Catalonia."

April 5: Carles Puigdemont demands in writing of the Spanish state that it comply with the United Nations demand that Jordi Sànchez be allowed to be invested as president by the Catalan parliament.

April 5: Aamer Anwar, Clara Ponsati's lawyer in the Edinburgh court considering the European arrest warrant demanding her return to Spain for trial on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds, says that there are "serious errors" in the document .

April 5: Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català hesitates before challenging the Catalan parliament's acceptance of Carles Puigdemont's vote ("compicated").

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Interview: Isabel Pires (Bloco de Esquerda MP, Portugal), Vilaweb, April 5

‘There are remnants of Francoist power in Spain even today’

 

 

Isabel Pires (Bloco de Esquerda – Left Bloc) is one of the Portuguese representatives who have signed a manifesto demanding the release of Catalonia’s political prisoners. For the first time, representatives of the Socialist Party (currently in government) and right-wing parties, such as the Social Democratic Party (PSD), have taken action. Written in the strongest terms, the document says: "We won’t contain our indignation at this frenzy of vindictiveness masquerading as legality, and we add our voice to all those in Europe and the world who call for the immediate freeing of Carles Puigdemont and all Catalan political prisoners."

 

The manifesto (which can be read here in Portuguese) will be presented on Friday in the auditorium of the Assembly of the Republic, the national parliament. Just last week, the Portuguese parliament passed a resolution urging that the Catalan problem be resolved through political means. But it is this manifesto that underscores the issue of the prisoners and, as Pires explains, although the government has not yet taken a position, a growing number of voice in Portugal are demanding the release of the prisoners.

 

Why did you sign the manifesto?
Because we want to defend the freedom of those whom we believe to be political prisoners.

 

The event will be held in the auditorium of the Assembly of the Republic, the national parliament.
We wanted to do it in the Assembly of the Republic because we believed that it holds symbolic power. Not only because there are representatives from different parties among the signatories, but also because it sends the message that the government should take a clearer position. It is very significant to be able to use the Assembly of the Republic’s auditorium. Ultimately, it is also a way of taking a political stand of sorts.

 

Five political parties have signed the manifesto. How important is that? Have all parties signed?
All have signed except one, the most right-wing party, which has not signed [the Social Democratic Centre-People's Party. CDS-PP]. We had never before gotten an MP from the PSD, and now they have signed, too. And the PS representative is important, because the PS, as governing party, is split on this matter. We hope that more people connected to this group will end up taking a stand.

 

Who is the representative whose joining surprised you the most?
The PSD, a right-wing party, is very important. It was not at all clear that he would end up signing, because it is a party that has a close ties with the Spanish PP. And from this point of view, it is extraordinary.

 

And the President of the Republic [Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa], what position does he have?
He has never said.

 

And the prime minister [António Costa]?
The prime minister is holding on to the position that all this is an internal Spanish affair and that, therefore, a statement is not necessary. Last week the government’s Secretary of State expressed this position. For now they remain non-committal.

 

We spoke two months ago. What changes have there been since then, in Portugal, regarding the Catalan affair?
Although there has been no avalanche of pronouncements about the matter, I believe that, yes, there is a very substantial difference from two months ago. At the moment, unlike what happened after the referendum, there are more and more people, especially people who write opinion articles, academics, teachers, who are committing themselves publicly. The question of the political prisoners has more and more visibility. And this, from the point of view of Portuguese politics, is very important. Portugal experienced a long dictatorship and knows what political prisoners are. For Portuguese society, this idea is very powerful. In Portugal we do not accept that people should be imprisoned for political reasons, and we condemn this.

 

What pressure can Portugal apply on Spain?
Portugal, like other EU nations, must criticise what has been happening in Spain and the decisions that have been made. And say that the judicial power is being used to stage a political offensive. Therefore, I believe that European states must join together and make public statements rejecting the existence of political prisoners in Catalonia. The countries should address this question. It is not easy, but we will not stop pressuring until this position is reached.

 

Northern Europe is deciding again on southern Europe.
These things are typical of the EU: cyclically, Germany and France, the countries that rule, are still predominant. And in the case of Germany it is especially important because it can stop, in a way, this process.

 

Germany, Portugal and Spain. Three countries that lived the transition from a dictatorship to democracy in a very different way. What weight do you assign to the Spanish Transition in order to understand what is happening today?
A parallel with the Portuguese Revolution can be drawn. In Portugal we managed to get rid of the power structures of the dictatorship. In Spain, on the other hand, the transition was negotiated, and the same thing did not happen. In Spain there are still remnants of this Francoist power. And that is the main difference between the two countries: the democratic paths that they followed are different. For example, now Spain is using these laws [sedition and rebellion], which we do not have in Portugal.

 

Translation: Vilaweb, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

 

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April 4: Barcelona FC CDR members launch yellow balloons at Barça-Roma Champions League match in support of political prisoners. The match also takes place before a banner calling on the Italian authorities to release the refugee rescue vessel Open Arms.

 

April 4: 1000-strong demonstration in Girona in support of one CDR member charged with cutting the rail line at Girona station during the November 8 general strike.

 

April 4: AMI and the Catalan Association of Municipalities and Shires (ACM) prepared to join the broad front in defence of Catalonia's democratic rights being promoted by parliament speaker Roger Torrent.

 

April 4: Josep Maria Cervera, president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) states that "the Puigdemont card has to be played right to the end".

 

April 4: Poster for April 7 Madrid demonstration demanding freedom for the Catalan political prisoners.

 

Missing image.

 

April 4: Madrid government anounces that is studying a legal appeal to the Constitutional Court against the decision of the Catalan parliament's speakership panel to accept Carles Puigdemont's vote.

 

April 4: PP to present draft law on "multilingual education" to the Catalan parliament.

 

April 4: After weeks of silence, PSOE leader Pedro Sànchez states that "there is no freedom of expression in Catalonia", "socialists are suffering violence in Catalonia" and Catalan public channel "TV3 is not an example of plurality of information". He later meets with representatives of Catalan Civil Society to thanks them for "defending the values of all citizens" and "social harmony among the peoples of Spain".

 

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Solidarity with Catalonia (Portugal)

 

Free the Catalan political prisoners!

 

Statement by signed by Portuguese Members of Parliament from the Left Bloc, Socialist Party, Social-Democratic Party, United Democratic Coalition (Communist Party and Greens) and People Animals Nature as well as numerous social movement activists and intellectuals. The full list of signatories and the Portuguese text can be found here. The statement will be launched on Friday, April 6 in the auditorium of the Portuguese parliament,

 

The president of the Generalitat [government] of Catalonia, exiled in Belgium five months ago, was arrested last Sunday in Germany in a controversial operation involving the Spanish and German secret services. He was returning from Finland, where he had gone on the invitation of its Parliament.

 

Carles Puigdemont was re-elected to the Catalan Parliament three months ago, in an election which, contrary to all the expectations of the Spanish government, reinforced a majority favorable to Catalonia’s independence, to the right of the region to decide its future and to the reinstatement of the President of the Generalitat.

 

In addition to Puigdemont, nine Catalan independence leaders have been pre-emptively detained without bail, eight of them being re-elected in December, including the former Speaker of the Catalan Parliament and the Vice-President of the Generalitat. Four of these prisoners have been held in custody for five months.

 

Proof of the punitive bent of the Spanish Supreme Court was its refusal to release one of these prisoners, Joaquim Forn, a member of the suspended Catalan government, whose defence lawyers had requested that he be able to await trial in freedom so as to treat tuberculosis he had contracted in jail. Judge Pablo Llarena, author of all these arrest warrants, refused this request on the pretext that the detainee could be treated in prison ...

 

The same judge has proceedings open so far against a total of 22 Catalan political leaders and activists, who are joined by more than a thousand mayors and school principals awaiting rulings on their collaboration in the organisation of the October 1 referendum. He has recently prevented another of the prisoners, the social movement leader Jordi Sànchez, from being able to defend before the Catalan Parliament his candidacy for the presidency of the Generalitat—without any court sentence having withdrawn his political rights. This was the opposite of what the Spanish justice system itself did in 1989, when an ETA prisoner was allowed out of jail to defend his candidacy as leader of the Basque regional government.

 

On Friday, March 23, the same day as the UN Human Rights Committee called on the Spanish State "as a matter of urgency” to "guarantee all the political rights of Jordi Sànchez" the new pro-independence presidential candidate, Jordi Turull, was arrested in Madrid on the eve of facing a second parliamentary vote.

 

In addition to Puigdemont, four other members of his government and two independence leaders are in exile in Belgium and Switzerland; the Spanish Government has issued a European arrest warrant against all of them. The last, on Friday, was the Republican leader Marta Rovira who left the country accompanied by her daughter so as not to be prevented from "giving her everything that I can give her", leaving Catalonia in "deep sadness" at having to part from"so many people that I love" and with whom "I shared so many struggles over so many years with a single goal: to change society, to make it more just."

 

Only authoritarian regimes--in the form of harsh democracies or soft dictatorships¹-- have political prisoners. They alone detain politicians and social movement leaders who have been elected aslegitimate  representatives of the people and who have never used political violence to defend their ideals, accusing them of crimes of "rebellion" and "sedition" and thus interpreting as "violence" the exercise of the basic rights to demonstration and expression of opinion.

 

Spain's rulers can repeat until they are blue in the face the mantra that Spain is a "consolidated democracy", but their actions on the Catalan issue all point in the opposite direction. Many European rulers can turn a blind eye and pretend not to understand that—whatever they think of the right to self-determination of the Catalan people—democracy and human rights are what is at stake, in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole!

 

We, by contrast, won’t contain our indignation at this frenzy of vindictiveness masquerading as legality, and we add our voice to all those in Europe and the world who call for the immediate freeing of Carles Puigdemont and all Catalan political prisoners.  Let all political and legal practices that are incompatible with respect for the civil and political rights of Catalan citizens end once and for all and, as everyone has called for, let there be political negotiations over a political problem.

 

March 27, 2018

 

Footnote

 

1. The Portuguese original contains the untranslatable coinages «democraduras» and «dictablandas»--so "harsh democracies" and "soft dictatorships"

 

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April 3: Die Linke MPs interview with Carles Puigdemont (in English)

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 3: Jaume Collboni, PSC leader in Barcelona Council, calls for the road blockades of the CDRs to be stopped.

 

April 3: PP calls on the Catalan parliament speakership panel to rescind its decision on recognising the vote of Carles Puigdemont. If not done the PP will lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court. Citizens follows suit. The CUP values the decision "very positively".

 

April 3: Spanish interior ministry sacks Annabel Marcos, the principal of the Catalan police academy, after a report on the Spanish-centralist web-based paper El Español that she had transported ballot boxes in her car on October 1.

 

April 3: The general secretary of Citizens, José Manuel Villegas, says his party will call on the Spanish parliament to declare Catalan pro-independence organisations (the Catalan National Assembly, Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence) illegal.

 

April 3: The speakership panel of the Catalan parliament decides by four to three that the vote of Carles Puigdemont should be recognised by parliament.

 

April 3: Regional prosecutor of Schleswig-Holstein decides that Spain's extradition warrant for Carles Puigdemont should go to trial, and asks that the court decide that Puigdemont remain in jail in the interim.

 

April 3: Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau on Spanish TV program Espejo Público: "The vast majority of protests have been peaceful: it is not true that there has been street violence. Let's not create unnecessary alarm."

 

April 3: Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas (Puigdemont's defence lawyer): "We don't live in a democracy, we live in a partyocracy where the parties are in permanent competition. Judges shouldn't take that into account, but they are human and take into account the environment they live in." Also: "It's logical that I say there was no crime of rebellion, but all Spanish professors of law of all tendencies say it as well."

 

April 3: CDR of Barcelona FC asks members to bring yellow balloons to tomorrow's Champions League match against Rome, to be inflated and released 17 minutes and 14 seconds into the game to shouts of "independence and freedom".

 

April 3: Clara (CDR member interviewed on Catalonia Radio): "They are creating a narrative to criminalise us and we are preparing our legal response." Also: "There have been plants in the CDRs ever since October 1, and we are identifying those who have been infiltrated."

 

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Comment (Javier Pérez Royo, Ara, April 3)

 

What can we expect from the European judge?

 

The decision—rather, the decisions—will be formally national, but de facto European: it is impossible for Europe to agree with Spain’s top judicial bodies in their definition of the crime of rebellion

 

From a formal viewpoint, there are four jurisdictional bodies from four European countries that need to rule on the European arrest warrant issued by Spanish judge Pablo Llarena. Each one is expected to issue a ruling on a single, individual case, except for the Belgian judge, who will do so on two cases. Therefore, we cannot speak of a single “European judge” who is expected to reach a decision, as the title of this article would suggest.

Nevertheless, while there isn’t a single European judge as such, I believe that de facto there is. Each and every one of the judges will decide on their own. But every one of them knows that the individual cases that they are expected to decide on are all linked by a common thread. And all of them realise that this affair has taken centre stage as far as Europe’s public opinion is concerned, as a browse through the papers will easily confirm. And it is not just Europe’s public opinion: recall the recent NYT editorial.

There are times when a decision by one nation’s jurisdictional body becomes a reference for the others. The case of the Canadian Supreme Court’s opinion on Quebec springs to mind. Even though it was not a ruling —it was not prompted by a court case, but by a formal enquiry from the federal government— and, therefore, it did not set a trial precedent, this opinion has become the single most influential piece of doctrine on what the right to self-determination is —and what it is not—, as well as on the conditions under which a secession referendum may be held within a democratic country.

The cases on which the German, Swiss, Belgian and Scottish judges must rule are formally separate and individual, but there is a shared link: what constitutes a crime of rebellion in a democratic European country well into the 21st century?

That is the question that must be answered by the four jurisdictional bodies of the four nations where the Catalan nationalist politicians are held and against whom the European warrant has been issued. And all four judges know that their answer will establish a European common denominator on the subject of rebellion crimes. Even if they do it in their own individual way, together they will decide what a crime of rebellion is and what it is not; what sort of “violence” is required for an event to be characterised as a crime of rebellion.

Make no mistake: the decision —rather, the decisions— will be formally national, but de facto European. Rather than four individual decisions, we will see four concurrent votes on a single decision. All of them will seek the European common denominator, something that can be objectively and reasonably justified in front of Europe’s public opinion.

At any rate, that European common denominator could never be the content of the brief or the warrant issued by Justice Llarena. On the subject of the crime of rebellion, all four judges will dismiss the arrest warrant. They will not allow the Catalan politicians to be tried for rebellion in Spain because it is impossible for the European judges to make that sort of collective decision. And they know that they cannot make contradictory decisions.

Spain’s Public Prosecutor, Audiencia Nacional and Supreme Court have been playing with fire and they will get their fingers burnt. It is impossible for Europe to agree with Spain’s top judicial bodies in their definition of the crime of rebellion in the case of the Catalan nationalist politicians. Some voices in media and academia have taken for granted that, following Carles Puigdemont’s arrest in Germany, the Catalan leader would be handed over to the Spanish authorities under the terms that Justice Llarena has laid out. It is not going to happen. All that Spain’s justice will achieve is to see its prestige in Europe eroded even further.

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April 2: University of St Andrews' students turn out to demonstrate support for Clara Ponsati despite rotten weather.

 

April 2 (from March 29): Interviewed in the Diari de Girona, British writer John Carlin says that "[Supreme Court judge Pablo] Llarena is the one that should be locked up in jail".

 

April 2: Assembly of Workers in Defence of Catalan Institutions (ADIC) calls on European citizens and institutions to support Catalonia's democratic rights.

 

April 2: Xavier Domènech (CatECP) clarifies position on CDRs after complaints on social networks over his interview in yesterday's  La Vanguardia in which he said that he didn't support their actions that lead to violence: "Badly expressed on my part: no criminalisation of citizen protest."

 

April 2: Albert Rivera (Citizens) says that the CDRs are "separatist commandos".

 

April 2: PSOE federal secretary Pedro Sánchez (after total silence on Catalonia for weeks): "I am very worried about the violence in Catalonia."

 

April 2: PSC spokesperson Salvador Illa: "The insurrection of the CDRs could lead to civil confrontation in Catalonia."

 

April 2: Estremera prison official José Angel Hidalgo asked to explain to his superiors the reasons for this article in the web-based magazine CTXT, in which he criticises the jailing of Catalan politicians.

 

April 2: ERC spokeperson Sergi Sabrià says the PSC will have to break with article 155 if it wants to reach agreements with the ERC.

 

April 2: Javier Maroto (PP spokeperson: "The CDR recall the kale borroka" and "the Mossos d'Esquadra (the Catalan police] are not doing enough to stop disturbances."

 

April 2: Aitor Esteban (Basque Nationalist Party) says that the Catalan leaders "have to get their act together" and form a government, so as to enable the lifting of article 155.

 

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Week ending April 1

 

166 nights with political prisoners

 

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Main events, March 26-April 1

 

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April 1: (El Nacional) The Catalan case bursts onto the European stage (no more an internal matter)

April 1: (El Nacional) German think tank warns over consequences of extradition

April 1: On the Basque Day of the Land (Aberri Eguna), the left independentist forces (izquierda abertzale)--celebrating in Iruñea (Pamplona)--call for both Basque and Catalan independence from the repressive Spanish state. In Bilbo (Bilbao), Basque Nationalist Party (PNB) leaders reaffirm their refusal to support the Spanish state budget until article 155 intervention in Catalonia is lifted.

April 1: CDRs continue wave of actions, removing tollway barriers on three expressways (see below, for action on AP-7 near El Vendrell).

Missing image.

April 1: Two Die Linke (The Left) MPs, Diether Dehm and Zaklin Nastic, visit Puigdemont in Neumünster jail. They offer him a house in Germany in case he is released while awaiting trial and call on the German government not to side with its Spanish counterpart.

April 1: Puigdemont: "October 1 was the beginning of another epoch from which there is no turning back."

April 1: Former Catalan president Artur Mas advises against investing Carles Puigdemont as president, even though it would be totally legitimate,  because it would open others to legal reprisals: "It has to be seen whether that is worth the trouble ... or whether it is better to strengthen our forces and move forward."

April 1: Jordi Sànchez from prison: "Six months ago today the democracy, non-violent resistance, civil behaviour and determination of the people triumphed."

April 1: ERC leader Pere Aragonés restates the need for dialogue with the Spanish state.

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Background (Ara, March 28)

Der Spiegel calls for asylum for Puigdemont

Most German newspapers oppose extradition of Catalan president

While the Territorial Court of Schleswig-Holstein decides whether or not to extradite Carles Puigdemont, a good deal of the German press is calling for the President to not be handed over to the Spanish authorities. In an editorial titled "Asylum for Puigdemont”, Jakob Augstein —an influential journalist and co-owner of Der Spiegel— calls for the Catalan leader to not be extradited. Augstein writes that "The detention of Puigdemont is an embarrassment. For Spain. For Europe. For Germany." And he also reminds readers about the arrest of another Catalan president, Lluís Companys: "The Germans already handed over one Catalan politician to the Spanish. Lluís Companys declared independence in 1934. He was arrested and tried. After the victory of the leftist forces he was freed, fought against Franco, escaped to France, and was captured there by the Gestapo and sent back to Spain. He was executed on October 15, 1940."

"Rebellion is a crime that requires the use of force under Spanish law, but violence has never been spoken of in Catalonia. At least not by the Catalan side. It was the Spanish police who attacked the Catalans last fall when they wanted to vote in a referendum", reflects Augstein. And he adds: "The Spanish are calling for the extradition of Puigdemont. Germany must reject this. A politician who uses peaceful means to fight for his objectives should not have to go to prison."

Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung has taken the same line as Der Spiegel and questions the fact that Puigdemont stands accused of rebellion. It also warns that under no circumstances can possible political motives behind a case be ignored. It argues that judges must turn down the extradition request because "it is not the instrument to resolve internal conflicts”.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine is much more neutral but does not take a position in favor of extradition. It describes the situation and stresses that the German government has always said that the Catalan conflict must be resolved "within the Spanish legal and constitutional order."

Translation: Ara

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March 31: The state prosecutor of Schleswig-Holstein to decide by Tuesday, April 3 if Puigdemont has a case of extradition to answer to.

March 31: ANC plants 3000 yellow crosses on the beaches of Cadaqués, Port de la Selva (Alt Emporda) and Argelers (North Catalonia, in France) to remember political prisoners and exiles.

March 31: Puigdemont on his Twitter account. "So everyone is clear: I will not give in, I will not resign and I will not retreat in the face of the illegitimate behaviour of those who lost at the ballot box nor in the face of the arbitrary action of those who are prepared to pay the price of sacrificing the rule of law and justice for the 'unity of the fatherland'."

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Comment (Suso de Toro¹, el diario, March 28)

Puigdemont is our president too²

Missing image: Galician author Suso de Toro

In the middle of a Spanish National Radio (RNE) broadcast from Valladolid³ in front of a live audience the presenter announces the news of President Puigdemont’s arrest by the German police at the request of the Spanish prosecutor, i.e., of the Spanish government.

Immediate reaction of the audience—applause. But surely not all the audience: some would have been people who instead of feeling jubilant would have been cringeing at news announcing something deplorable, a politician pursued by the police on the orders of the corrupt government of M. Rajoy⁴. It may even have been that some people who instinctively joined in the applause later felt ashamed.

Surely so, but what a sinister reaction from that audience, which could have been any audience that follows the RNE in many other cities of Spain. A reaction typical of volunteer jailers: the hatred implanted by Spanish politics and media towards the rulers of Catalonia and the more than two million who voted for them has degraded people and social life to a degree not known for forty years. And that corresponds to the image the Kingdom of Spain has re-acquired, of a repressive country where political differences are solved with police and prisons, a country from which dissidents either flee or end up in jail.

These are the striking results of an implacable plan drawn up from the very moment M. Rajoy arrived at the Moncloa⁵, transported there by all the  bank-owned media of the monarchy. They immediately "took over" Spanish public televison (TVE) and this was indicative of what they were going to do elsewhere. To apply their program of theft of social rights and looting of the state they needed to end freedom of expression--they already had the newspapers and television stations on side--and so they drafted the Gag Law⁶.

Over the years since then they have been administering successive but regular doses of Francoism, doses so small that they have gone almost unnoticed,  imperceptibly intoxicating us: as we swallowed they took away everything, the welfare state and freedom. We went along accepting what they did to others by identifying with the flag (the Borbon flag) and a hymn (the Borbon military march) and a "unity" that meant persecution (“Go, get ‘em!”⁷) of those who would not submit. We got a little more Francoist every day as we laughed at the Catalans who got bashed up for wanting freedom, made jokes about the prisoners⁸, turning ourselves every day a little bit more into the jailers of the free. They have been vaccinating us against freedom to the point that we are scandalised that there are people who want to vote about whatever they want to vote about. Here freedom is something quite forgotten or unknown.

However, brainwashing and police repression were not enough: they also needed the judges and so carried out a reform of the legal system that not only withdrew legal protection and rights from individuals but also transformed the legal system as a separate power into a repressive instrument of the executive power. In addition to unblushingly placing openly Francoist judges into positions of power—thus controlling the National Court (Audiencia Nacional⁹) and the Supreme Court—in 2015 they adopted the law reforming the operation of the Constitutional Court. That reform implied reform of the entire state, the cancellation in practice of the legislative branch. On the pretext of carrying out an express reform to prosecute the then-president of the Catalan government, they transformed the Constitutional Court  into a reactionary instrument with unfettered power to carry out its repressive function¹⁰.

The People’s Party (PP) of M. Rajoy, after its Spain-wide campaign of collection of signatures against the Statute "of the Catalans”, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court and maneuvered so that the composition of that court would accord with their interests. Thus the judges appointed by the PP challenged a colleague, Pablo Pérez Tremps¹¹. And so a court in agreement with the PP issued a ruling that was far more important than the offense and the damage it inflicted on the Catalans. In fact, that ruling not only expelled Catalanism¹²  from the consensus on which the Constitution had been built, but also represented, I believe, a real refounding of the judicial system born of the Transition¹³.

A statute that had been drafted and approved by the Catalan parliament, trimmed back, given a brush¹⁴, approved by the Spanish parliament and then approved in a referendum by the Catalan people was changed by the Constitutional Court. The Catalans are today governed by a legal text that is no such thing. The statute that the parliaments and they themselves approved was not accepted by the Constitutional Court, which replaced it with another text, the original reworked with cuts. I won’t go now into the fact that court took out its frustration by cutting out points recognised in other statutes¹⁵: once the cutting and polishing began it was back to zero.   It’s not just a question of the suspension of the judicial framework in which the Catalans have been left since then, but also of the establishment of two principles: the Constitutional Court can interpret and modify any statutory text and it is not parliaments, the legislature, that establishes the law but the Constitutional Court, which stands above it. Thus, the Kingdom of Spain is no longer a full parliamentary system as commonly understood. But these things, so serious that they seem incredible, are much better known to Professor Javier Pérez Royo¹⁶.

For years it has been hard for me to believe the things that I have been writing about here: we were just not prepared to imagine this Francoist degeneration of Spanish public life. However, as regards hatred of the Catalans, yes, I believe everything. Just as I believe that everything that has been happening for months now has been a plan executed implacably step by step: from the Constitutional Court sentence they have been cornering the Catalans, giving them no respite, no negotiation, no way out, taking them to where they now have them—against the wall in a prison state.

When President Tarradellas returned from exile¹⁷, bringing back the Generalitat, the Catalan republican institution of self-government, he did it on the promise of Adolfo Suarez and the previous king¹⁸  that it would get recognition and fit into the constitution that was about to be drafted. But Suarez was pushed aside by the King himself and the Army, Suárez's democratic cheque account was left without funds, and now the Generalitat and its legitimate president (since no other has yet been elected) is in exile detained by the German police at the request of the government of M. Rajoy.

Moreover, none of this could have happened without a PSOE committed to the state strategy carried out by M. Rajoy and Felipe VI.

I shall not go on, I only recall what we have been saying for some time, it is not a question of independent republic or a Spanish kingdom, but of democracy or not. And in Spain that "not" means Francoism. Puigdemont is the president of the Catalans, no matter how much it galls M. Rajoy and Felipe of Borbon, but he is a democrat and it is our duty to defend his freedom.

Footnotes

1. Galician writer Suso de Toro, a long-standing supporter of the Catalan right to self-determination, is the author of Another Idea of Spain and various novels. He won the National Prize for Narrative in 2013.

2. “Puigdemont, our president” is a chant that’s heard at any demonstration for Catalan rights against the repression of the Spanish state. Suso de Toro’s point is that he is the president of any Spanish democrat as well.

3. Capital of Valladolid province and seat of the regional government of Castilla y León.

4.  “M. Rajoy” was how the name of Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy appeared in the payments column of the PP accounts of former treasurer Luís Bárcenas, presently on trial for corruption.

5. Spanish prime minister’s residence and official seat of the Spanish government. 

6. The Gag Law, whose official name is Law of Citizen Safety, has been in force since July 1, 2015. Its provisions cover 44 offences ranging from flashing laser beams at aircraft to organising unauthorised demonstration.

7. “Go get ‘em” (a por ellos) was the chant of Spanish-centralist demonstrators gathered outside Civil Guard barracks to send off Civil Guards going to Catalonia to stop the October 1 referendum.

8. For example, members of the Spanish National Police were recorded making offensive remarks about Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras on his being sent into detention.

9. The National Court descends from the Franco-era Court of Public Order . More detail here.

10. The Law governing the Constitucional Court was amended in October 2015 to give it powers to punish those judged to have disobeyed its rulings. The former president of the Catalan government mentioned is Artur Mas

11. Pablo Pérez Tremps, member of the “progressive sector” of the Spanish judiciary, is an expert in relations between the legal and constitutional branches of the Spanish justice system who was also a member of the Constitutional Court. During the appeal of the PP against the constitutionality of the Catalan Statute, his impartiality was questioned by lawyers for the PP case: their submission against his sitting on the case was carried six to five by at a full bench session of the Constitutional Court.

12. “Catalanism” is a broad concept that basically means recognition and affirmation of the value of Catalan society, language, culture and institutions. It can apply to supporters of independence as well as those seeking a different relation between Catalonia and the Spanish state.

13. That is, the transition from the Franco dictatorship.

14. The Statute as first adopted by the Catalan parliament was later “given a brush” (cepillado)—expression of PSOE leader and Spanish centralist Alfonso Guerra—by the Spanish parliament.

15. The Spanish solicitor-general idenified 85 articles in the Catalan Statute challenged by the PP that were already contained in other Statutes. Articles finally ruled unconstitutional by the court were already in operation in Andalusia and the Valencian Country.

16. As outlined in his book The Impossible Constitutional Reform. See various comment by Pérez Royo on this blog here, here and here.

17. In 1977, Josep Tarradellas, president of the Catalan government (Generalitat) in exile, returned to Spain where he negotiated with Spanish rpime minister Adolfo Suarez the re-establishment of the Generalitat as the legitimate government of Cataloonia.

18. King Juan Carlos, father of the present incumbent.

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March 30: Report on yesterday's session in the Portuguese parliament (below: Left Bloc MPs wearing yellow ribbon of solidarity with Catalan political prisoners)

A resolution moved by the Communist Party of Portugal (PCP) demanding a "political solution" to the national question in the Spanish state based on "respect for the will of its peoples and hence the Catalan people" is carried with the support of the Socialist Party (PS), Left Bloc, PCP, Greens and animal rights party. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Social Democratic Centre-People's Party (CDS-PP) vote against.

A second point in the PCP resolution condemning the "repressive measures" and "authoritarian turn of the Spanish authorities" is defeated when the SP vote against, but with 21 of its 86 MPs still supporting the motion and 8 abstaining.

A separate resolution by the Left Bloc condemning the Spanish state's "shows of violence" and expressing solidarity with the prisoners and exiles, and demanding their release and freedom to return is also defeated by the PS, PDS and CSD-PP bloc, even though 12 PS MPs abstain.

March 30: Trouble getting the story straight: the European arrest warrant issued by Supreme Court judge Llarena says that the Puigdemont government misappropriated €1.6 million in public funds to carry out referendu, while the Spanish government has conceded that no public moneys were spent on the referendum.

March 30: PDECat tables written question in Spanish parliament as to the legal basis of the tracking of Carles Puigdemont by 12 secret service agents.

March 30: Der Spiegel : German government will not overrule decision of the court of Schleswig-Holstein on whether or not to extradite Puigdemont.

March 30: JxCat: "Any other candidate for president than Carles Puigdemont will be provisional."

March 30: Wolfgang Schäuble, speaker of the Bundestag, says that the Puigdemont case "is by no means trivial".

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Comment (Milan Kučan¹, El Nacional, March 30)

The EU's silence on Catalonia

Spain's European arrest warrants, arrests, threats of drastic prison sentences and the extension of imprisonment for Catalonia's elected representatives all indicate that Spain has given up the possibility of tackling the Catalan crisis, which is eminently political, through political means. Spain has opted for violence and repression in the hope that it will succeed in preventing the Catalans from politically deciding their future. Their attempt to pass the complex political issue into the field of criminal law, unfortunately, necessarily leads to gross violations of political freedoms and interference with the dignity of the Catalans, who are also EU citizens.

As a result of the agreement on cooperation in criminal matters, now EU members have become an instrument of Spanish persecution of legitimate political considerations and their institutions. The crisis in Catalonia, with the arrest of the former President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, thus reaches even more worrying dimensions. The EU's silence is therefore unclear. Fear of potential similar ambitions in different parts of Europe cannot be a reason for this blindfolding, let alone accepting undemocratic government practices.

Fear is not a good counsellor. The EU needs the reputation and faith of Europeans not to veer from its democratic foundations and values. That is why it is time for the EU's appeal to the Spanish government to resolve Catalonia's problem through dialogue and democratic, political means. After all, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which advocates the freedom of thought and expression, will be 70 years old this December.

Footnote

1. Milan Kučan was the first president of Slovenia (1991-2002)

 

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March 29: Tweet of Gilles Simeoni, Executive President of the Council of Corsica: "Following the arrest of Carles Puigdemont, the Corsican Assembly votes, with obviously favorable opinion of the Executive Council of Corsica, a motion of support and solidarity with imprisoned Catalan leaders." The Council motion also demands the involvement of the EU in negotiations to address the conflict.

 

March 29: Organisers of the Barcelona World Race suspend the 2019 edition because of the "unstable political conjuncture".

 

March 29: Poster (below) for March 31 demonstration in Munich against deportation of Puigdemont, called jointly by ANC Munich and CDR Munich.

 

Missing image: March 31 Munich demonstration against extradition of Puigdemont.

 

March 29: Crowdfunding site for contributions to the legal costs of Carles Puigdemont and other exiled MPs set up here.

 

March 29: Article in Handelsblatt Global: "Why Germany Could Save Carles Puigdemont"

 

March 29: Survey by German daily Die Welt says 51% of those surveyed think Puigdemont should not be extradited, with 35% in favour and the rest undecided.

 

March 29: UK Guardian article says European powers-that-be still unmoved by conflict over arrest of Catalan MPs

 

March 29: Xavier Domènech (CatECP) repeats his proposal for a government made up of non-party progressives ("let the parties take a step backwards so that the country can take a step forwards").

 

March 29: Front cover, The National.

 

 

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March 28: Spanish daily El Mundo runs lead story based on Civil Guard report of alleged protester violence on October 1. Alleges that a protester kicked a defenceless Civil Guard in the back of the head in the town of Sant Esteve de les Roures. No town of this name exists in Catalonia...

 

March 28: Newly formed broad platform of union confederations and social movement organisations calls mass protest for Sunday, April 15, calling for release of political prisoners, lifting of article 155 intervention and social harmony between diferent communities living in Catalonia.

 

March 28: Ultra-right Spanish unionist party Vox, the "popular prosecution" [see explanation here] in the Supreme Court hearings against the Catalan leaders, demands that former premier Artur Mas and Neus Lloveras, the former president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), be also charged with rebellion and embezzlement.

 

March 28: Over 50 Flemish MPs sign letter to Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy demanding that he open a dialogue with Catalan authorities.

 

March 28: Puigdemont's German defence lawyer says he will immediately appeal to the German Constitutional Court if the Catalan president is not released by local court considering the European arrest warrant against him.

 

March 28: Historian Josep Lluís Alay, travelling with Carles Puigdemont at the time of his arrest, himself arrested on return to Catalonia.

 

March 28: José Ángel Hidalgo, public servant with the Madrid prisons department, summoned to explain his interview on Catalan radio RAC1 in which he questioned why Catalan MPs were in prison.

 

March 28: 27 judges from 12 of the Spanish State's 17 autonomous communities (states) declare their solidarity with Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena. No judge from Catalonia signs the declaration.

 

March 28: Citizens MP to Catalan Ombudsman: "You are the Ombudsman of the independence process."

 

March 28: Der Spiegel calls for asylum for Puigdemont. See Ara's account (in English) here.

 

March 28: Catalan parliament adopts resolutions on: the rights of elected representatives to stand for elected office, specifically the right of Carles Puigdemont, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull to stand for the position of president; the release of jailed MPs and social movement leaders; the suspension of the article 155 intervention of the Spanish government in Catalonia; and the need for broad alliances as the basis for Catalonia's advance to self-determination. (Translated text of resolutions to come.)

 

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March 28 session of Catalan Parliament: yellow ribbons mark seats of jailed and exiled MPs

 

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March 28: Clara Ponsatí raises nearly £200,000 in less than a day through crowdfunding appeal for her legal expenses.

 

March 28: Catalan Ombudsman presents his report on October 1 to the Catalan parliament.

 

March 28: Four well-known writers denounce the detention of Catalan leaders in today's edition of Le Monde.

 

March 28: Clara Ponsatí released on bail in Edinburgh, and has to surrender passport.

 

March 28: Parliament approves the resolution of CatECP on the need to defend Catalonia's institutions and advance on the basis of broad social majorities.

 

March 28: A judge in Cornellà (outer Barcelona) charges eight senior Catalan police with sedition and refers the case to the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional).

 

March 28: Spanish National Police arrest at Barcelona airport the two Catalan police who were accompanying Puigdemont on his journey from Finland to Belgium.

 

March 28: Parliament rejects the resolution of PSC on "dialogue and reconciliation".

 

March 28: Enric Millo, delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia, says that Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent is following the same course as his predecessor, Carme Forcadell (now in jail).

 

March 28: Elisenda Paluzie, the new president of the ANC, calls on parlament to invest Puigdemont as president.

 

March 28: Parlament rejects the resolution of Citizens demanding the resignation of Roger Torrent as speaker.

 

March 28: The New York Times publishes this editorial ("The Catalonia Dispute Ensnares Germany")

 

March 28: José Ángel Hidalgo, prison officer at Madrid's Estremera prison, on radio RAC1: "Junqueras and Forn are fine, they are receiving extraordinary treatment from the prison officers. But the question is, what are they doing here."

 

March 28: Education minister Clara Ponsatí presents herself at Edinburgh police headquarters, so as to answer to European arrest warrant issued by Spanish Supreme Court.

 

March 28: JxCat decides that if Suprme Court judge Pablo Llarena ignores the position of the UN in support of the right of parliamentarians to stand for any position they will present a fourth candidate for the position of president (after Puigdemont, Sànchez and Turull).

 

March 28: Spanish government spokesperson Iñigo Méndez de Vigo says after meeting of cabinet that "breaking the law is an issue of European importance".

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Comment (Martí Estruch Aximacher, Vilaweb, March 26)

Letter to a German friend

"In Germany, unlike Spain, the separation of powers is a given, so we must wait see and see what the judge decides"

You said I was exaggerating, when I told you that this time independence for Catalonia is for real and there’s no longer any going back, that it’s only a matter of time. You’re not the only one who told me so, of course. It’s been ten years since we had those chats in various parts of Berlin, always with a Weissbier on the table in front of us. The ruling on the 2010 Statute of Catalonia had not yet been handed down, but you could already see that thousands of Catalans had started to become disengaged from Madrid and that mentally they’d become independent. Their ID stated and continues to state that they are Spanish, but not only did they not feel it to be so, but they no longer acted like it were so.

A lot has happened since then. Catalan society has changed a great deal and its president spent last night in a German prison. It’s like what they say: sometimes more things happen in a decade than in a century. We’ve continued to talk when we’ve met again, in Germany and in Catalonia, or in the emails that we’ve sent each other. Catalonia’s independence movement is increasingly broader and more solid, with an ability to organize and resist that surprises all those who, like yourself, approach it with an open mind. You’re an international journalist, you travel constantly and —as you’ve told me on many occasions— currently no other country in the world has the same potential for social and political mobilization as Catalonia.

I also told you that, if we ended up where we are right now, it won’t be solely down to our successes. It’s true that increasingly people have made up their minds and on 1 October last year they showed this to be true by staging and supporting a referendum on independence in the face of a state that literally stopped at nothing to prevent it. Finally, unable to stop the referendum from going ahead through legal means and incapable of confiscating the ballot boxes and other logistical material, they decided to show the world their impotence in the form of frenzied attacks by the police against peaceful voters. The time for talking is over, only our strength remains. You were there, you saw it with your own eyes and told your readers about it.

It is equally true, however, that the pro-independence political parties haven’t always been aware of the historic challenge they face and all too often they have lost their way in inexplicable, unforgivable squabbles, endangering the entire project and testing the public’s patience. Nonetheless, the Spanish state has always appeared on cue with a prison sentence or actions which have served to ensure a few thousand more people are favourable to Catalan independence and to unite the political parties. Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has stated it publicly and politicians on all sides of the Bundestag have confirmed it to you: Rajoy’s strategy makes no sense and it’s clear that ‘the Catalan problem’ won’t be resolved by resorting to the courts and the police.

Now, suddenly, Catalonia is looking to Germany without really knowing what to expect. From the moment when the German police detained President Carles Puigdemont near the Danish border, 300 kilometres northwest of Berlin, Catalonia’s political temperature has risen by several degrees. Thousands of protesters took to the streets to call for freedom. They also shouted, “enough is enough”. This may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back; we shall see. This time the protests were no longer entirely peaceful, there were confrontations with the police and some scuffles, though minor in nature. I’ve often told you that the indirect message that the EU and its member states send to Catalonia is highly dangerous because people end up thinking that Catalonia has less chance of becoming independent than Kosovo.

Cries of “freedom for political prisoners” could also be heard at the Liceu, Barcelona’s renowned opera house, and the social networks were abuzz until the early hours of the morning. Puigdemont’s Flemish lawyer summed it all up: Spain has become a dictatorship since it imprisons people because of their political beliefs and for its use of international arrest warrants in a manner which has nothing to do with the rule of law. Renowned international journalists have openly declared themselves to be opposed to Puigdemont’s extradition. In Germany, unlike Spain, the separation of powers is a given. As a result, we must wait see and see what the judge decides.

When Puigdemont was arrested yesterday, many of us couldn’t help but think of the arrest of Lluís Companys in France by the Gestapo in 1940. The president of Catalonia was handed over to Franco’s regime and executed in Barcelona. I know you and I know you’ll think that it’s not possible to draw any parallels. Obviously, Germany is not Nazi Germany and Spain is not quite pro-Franco Spain, in spite of the fact that it has done little to distance itself from its past and the remains of the Franco era still linger. Perhaps this is the result of having chosen a transition rather than a clean break. Francisco Franco Foundation, Valle de los Caídos monument to the Franco regime and thousands buried in mass graves. As a German, you know exactly what I mean. We’ll see what decision Germany makes 78 years on. And while we read that in Neumünster the prisoners greeted Puigdemont with cries of “Freedom!”, many in Spain chose to celebrate his arrest.

Translation: Vilaweb

 

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March 27: The mayor of the industrial city of Granollers (Vallès Oriental), Josep Mayoral (PSC) has called on all mayors of the region to join the front for the defence of democracy proposed by speaker Roger Torrent in order to "win freedom for all persecuted persons" and end repression.

 

March 27: CDR Sants surrounds the main Barcelona railway station.

 

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Ferreres, Ara, March 27

 

Missing image.
Spanish interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido: "You sent the arrest warrant to Finland written in Spanish. This can't happen again! To Finland, in Finnish. To Belgium, in Belgian. To Switzerland, in Swiss.

 

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March 27: CDR road closure campaign continues with police charges and arrests.

 

March 27: Scottish government formally complains to the Spanish ambassador to the UK about the issuing of the European Arrest Warrants against Puigdemont, Comin, Puig and Ponsatí.

 

March 27: Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, Puigdemont's lawyer, from Germany: "The president is firm, with courage and determination: he will not let down his ideals. He very much appreciates all the support he is getting and makes a call for the movement for sovereignty to stay united."

 

March 27: CCOO and UGT launch the platform Democracy and Social Harmony and call mass demonstration for April 15.

 

March 27: The majority of German dailies against extraditing Puigdemont.

 

March 27: Der Spiegel calls for political asylum to be granted to Puigdemont

 

March 27: Exiled minister for culture Lluís Puig on radio RAC1: "Creating a Spanish regional government on the assumption that our people will be released from prison is a lie. It would be to take a step backward and increase by many years the time in jail of those who are there. We need to recover the Catalan government, but not at any price. If we manage to defeat these extradition demands in some country we will be able to work there on everything we can't do in the Spain. The combination of the institutions, international actions and the civic and peaceful attitude of civil society have to get us out of this dead end."

 

March 27: CDRs initiative road blocks on highways across Catalonia.

 

March 27: Front cover of today's issue of the Scottish pro-independence daily, The National. Story here.

 

Missing image.

 

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Comment on likelihood of Puigdemont deportation to Spain (Javier Pérez Royo, Ara, March 27)

 

What can we expect from the German judge?

 

High treason and rebellion are similar in that they are both characterised by violence

 

In fact, the title should read "from the European Judge", since judges from four countries will have to rule on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Judge Pablo Llarena [against the four Catalan MPs presently in exile]. But since all eyes are on Germany, I shall focus on the possible or probable response of the German judge.

As I am sure you found out on Sunday, if you weren’t already aware, the EAW allows for the immediate repatriation of the suspect by the judge of the country in which they have been detained. Said repatriation could be automatic, without the need for the German judge to analyse in the slightest the specific content of the EAW issued by Llarena.

This would have been the case if the offences of which Carles Puigdemont stands accused featured on the list of crimes for which this automatic repatriation is intended. However, rebellion [the main charge against president Carles Puigdemont] is not one of them. Consequently, the German judge is not only allowed to, but indeed obliged to, carry out an analysis of the facts surrounding the crimes of which Carles Puigdemont stands accused in order to find out whether or not they constitute the crime of rebellion.

This is the key to the question. As you may have learnt on Sunday, according to the German Criminal Code, there exists the crime of high treason, typified in terms that are not identical —but which some claim are comparable— to those of the crime of rebellion under the Spanish Criminal Code. From this point of view, assuming that the similarity stands, Puigdemont’s legal position before the German and the Belgian judges is different, as the crime of rebellion does not exist in Belgium’s Criminal Code.

The crime of rebellion in the Spanish Criminal Code is defined in a different way from the crime of high treason in the German Criminal Code. The closest offence to the German crime of high treason under Spanish law can be found in article 102.2 of the Spanish Constitution. This states that, "The President (of the government) shall be held criminally liable" if "the charge is of treason or any offence against the security of the State is committed".

However, let's imagine for a moment, no small thing, that there is a certain similarity between the German crime of high treason and the Spanish crime of rebellion. It does not necessarily follow from this that the German judge can proceed to accept the version of events as outlined in the EAW issued by Judge Llarena as constituting the crime of rebellion, however. The apparent similarity between the two merely allows the judge to agree to consider the EAW, but nothing more.

The German judge has the obligation to study the EAW and verify whether Carles Puigdemont's conduct can be classified as rebellion. And if it can be maintained in terms that confirm a certain degree of "similarity" between the German and Spanish criminal codes. In other words, if Carles Puigdemont’s conduct as described by Judge Pablo Llarena in the EAW constitutes an act of violence of the criminal kind both in terms of high treason and of rebellion.

High treason and rebellion are similar in that they are both characterised by violence. Without violence neither one nor the other exists. And not any form of violence, not the existence of violent incidents, but a violence planned from the initial moment of the uprising, in order to achieve the objectives outlined both in the German and Spanish Criminal Code. A ‘’violent uprising’’ is not the result of the juxtaposition of an adjective, and a noun, instead the two must be indivisibly linked from its inception to its completion. This indivisible pair is crucial when deciding what constitutes the crime according to the law.

This is the practically unanimous interpretation of violence under both Spanish and German law. For violence of a criminal nature to exist it must be physical violence, against people, not against property, and of an exceptional nature. Without these characteristics, violence or violent episodes may constitute a criminal offence, but not the crime of rebellion or high treason. This is what the German judge will have to confirm first and subsequently justify if he considers that he must accept the EAW issued by the Spanish judge.

My impression is that he will not be able to do so, since as Professor Francisco Javier Álvarez García explained yesterday in the Tribuna Abierta blog [Open Platform], "with the information on the table (found in the court’s resolutions) one cannot state that the Catalan politicians recently brought before the Supreme Court’s examining magistrate have committed a crime of rebellion".

Translation: Ara (slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau)

 

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March 26: Demonstrations in solidarity with Catalonia in Palma (Mallorca), Valencia and various cities in Galicia.

 

March 26: Jordi Sànchez calls for strict observance of principle of non-violence in demonstrations.

 

March 26: Parlament speaker Roger Torrent holds meetings with leaders of Micro, Small and Medium Business of Catalonia (PIMEC), the County Business Confederation of Terrassa (CECOT) and the Farmers Union. All three stress the need to form government.

 

March 26: Parlament speaker Roger Torrent holds meetings with leaders of majority union confederations UGT and CCOO. No specific measures agreed on beyond "creating a space for promoting social harmony". CCOO secretary general Javier Pacheco: "Abandoning the unilateral path is indispensable."

 

March 26: Jordi Turull from prison: "Isolate the provocateurs from demonstrations".

 

March 26: Jordi Sànchez states his willingness to stand for investiture as president on the basis of legal advice that, under the UN Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, he cannot be prevented from doing so.

 

March 26: Family members of jailed Catalan MPs meet with MEPs in European Parliament in Brussels.

 

March 26: Unionist organisation Catalan Civil Society (SCC) demands the resignation of Roger Torrent as speaker, because "in a democratic state it is inadmissable that an institutional representative deliver a speech supportive of a coup." [a reference to the October 1 referendum]

 

March 26: Spanish prosecutor's office in Catalonia demands protection for Supreme Court judge Llarena after he received a menacing tweet.

 

March 26: Catalan Ombudsman declares he will investigate behaviour of police at yesterday's protests against the detention of Carles Puigdemont and the five MPs taken into custody on March 23.

 

March 26: Workers in hospitals and Catalan Parliament stage protests in support of arrested Catalan leaders.

 

March 26: Albert Rivera (Citizens): "Nationalism is what we saw in the streets of Barcelona yesterday--hatred and confrontation."

 

March 26: College of Catalan Lawyers issues statement calling detention of MPs "disproportionate".

 

March 26: Five MPs detained on March 23 ask judge Llarena to allow them to vote in the Catalan parliament, as Llarena had already agreed for imprisoned JxCat leader Jordi Sànchez.

 

March 26: German government statement says that the case of Puigdemont will be solved "on the basis of Spanish law", and affirms that "Spain is a democratic state".

 

March 26: Puigdemont's first tweet from detention: "Now there must be no violence."

 

March 26: One thousand lawyers in Barcelona hold protest against the decisions of the Spanish Supreme Court.

 

March 26: Workers Commissions (CCOO) of Catalonia demand immediate release of political prisoners.

 

March 26: Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastic cancels visit to Barcelona.

 

March 26: Andoni Ortúzar, president of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), ends message to Puigdemont: "We're with you, president."

 

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Week ending March 25

 

160 nights with political prisoners

 

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Main events, March 19-25

 

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March 25: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent addresses Catalonia over TV3, calls for broad front for the defence of democratic rights in Catalonia. Citizens and PP criticise "partisan" use of public broadcaster. English version of Torent's speech here.

 

March 25: Demonstrations all over Catalonia (55,000 in Barcelona), protesting arrest of president Puigdemont and calling on German courts not to comply with European arrest warrant and hand him over to the Spanish legal system. Clashes with arrests and wounded in Barcelona. Graphics:

 

• Barcelona
• Tarragona (road block)
• Barcelona (outside Spanish government delegation)
• Barcelona (outside German consulate)
• Girona
• Girona ("Free Our President" in German)
• Lleida (clashes with police)
• Tarragona (highway cut by protestors)

 

March 25: Sergi Perelló, leader of pro-independence union confederation  Intersindical-CSC, calls on workers opposed to repression of Spanish state to join Intersindical-CSC so as to make a general strike a success.

 

March 25: Demonstration in support of Puigdemont and calling on German authorities to deny extradition order (below).

 

mani-puigdmeont-cartell-espinosa_15_630x420.jpeg

 

March 25: German police arrest Carles Puigdemont after entering Germany from Denmark on his way back to Belgium. German court will consider extradition order tomorrow.

 

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Opinion (Beatriz Talegón¹, El Nacional, March 24)

 

The crack of March 23

 

(Comment on the jailing yesterday of the Catalan leaders)

 

beatriztalegon600_560x280.jpg

 

Yesterday there was a creaking, it traveled from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar. Yesterday, yes, yesterday, Spain broke apart.

Like when you see an ice sheet breaking in the documentaries, yesterday that crack crack crack took place. And then everything was quiet. Like when there is snow, it absorbs the noise and the feeling is like a vacuum that is full ... strange.

Yesterday Spain was left without the rule of law. Crack!

And democracy was left completely naked. Wham!

Those who think they own Spain have tightened the rope so much that in the end they have exposed their own private parts.  Yesterday, directors of Spanish newspapers, twitterers, pedestrians on the streets of Madrid, neighbours, cousins, friends ... they all said "not in my name".

In Catalonia, for sure, they didn't notice. Because they were in shock watching Judge Llarena break the law and put in jail politicians accused of doing politics. But the shock also reached Spain.

My colleague Iu Forn² explains it very well. Read him. Yesterday's low blow is unfortunately just  one more step, and although it may not seem so, evidence that proves the Republicans and also the supporters of independence right. Or did you think they would give us a Republic by asking for it nicely?

 

Now it is easier to explain to Spanish people that this was precisely what people supporting Catalan sovereignty, Basque sovereignty, Valencian sovereignty have been saying for a long time. Because of this way of administering justice, this enormous shortfall in democracy, this style of media lies, they want to leave it behind. It doesn't surprise me. I also want to become independent from this Spain.

Of course, that the right-wing inheritors of Franco's coup regime do this seems to me to be totally expected, even though I too am in shock and pain. But that the PSOE and Podemos can swallow this and are not leading massive demonstrations in a show of rejection of this government and of support for the Catalan people--that is heartbreaking.

I thought I saw them both fall yesterday inside the abyss that opened when Spain went crack.

 

Footnote

 

1. Former leader of the international of socialist youth, aligned with the social democracy, Beatriz Talegón was for a long time a dissident voice within the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). She has been a consistent supporter of the right to self-determination of the Catalans and other nations within the Spanish state.

 

2. Catalan commentator

 

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March 24: Tarragona CDR organises roadblock with 1000 people of main north-south expressway in protest against jailing of Catalan MPs.

 

March 24: Abbott of Monteserrat issues a statement criticising the jailing of the Catalan parliamentarians.

 

March 24: Economist Elisenda Paluzie elected as president of ANC, replacing Jordi Sànchez.

 

March 24: Torrent tells meeting after parliamentary session that he will propose a broad anti-repression front at the enxt session.

 

March 24: Natàlia Sànchez (CUP): "We will fill the streets to empty the prisons."

 

March 24: Xavier Domènech (CatECPodem) calls on the pro-independence parties to form a government as soon as possible, and if they can't, to say so and alow a different majority to form.

 

March 24: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent suspends investiture session because Turull is absent in jail, but substitutes it with a session in which each party group can speak for 15 minutes on the political situation. The PP walks out.

 

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Analysis (Dani Sánchez Ugart, Ara, March 24)

 

Spain: Supreme Court judge twists words to justify charges of rebellion against pro-independence leaders

 

Judge's convoluted semantics could lead to prison sentences of 10-30 years for the defendants

Missing image.

Before sending five Catalan elected representatives back to prison, Pablo Llarena used his judicial statement on the charges against 25 politicians and leaders of pro-independence grassroots organizations to reconstruct an alleged legal narrative that goes back to 2012, with [former president] Artur Mas' victory in the Parliamentary elections, and attempts to present a "meticulous ideation" of a strategy of confrontation with the Spanish government.

Although most of the events described —from the creation of Catalonia’s Advisory Council for the National Transition, to the publication of the "White Book for the National Transition", to the approval of Parliamentary resolutions— were public and well-known, and were not contested at the time by Spain’s criminal justice system, according to Llarena's reasoning they were part of a perfectly crafted conspiracy and thus can be construed as crimes of rebellion, disobedience, and embezzlement. In 69 pages, the Supreme Court judge presents a meticulous account of each and every one of the main events in Catalan politics, with special attention to the events of September 20th outside the HQ of Catalonia’s Ministry of Economy—which the judge characterizes as violent in order to justify pressing rebellion charges—and to the October 1st referendum. But Llarena dedicates many pages to justifying the convoluted reasoning used to attribute this violence to the indicted. Justice Llarena admits that Supreme Court jurisprudence "characterises violence by its physical nature, by personal expression, and for its appropriateness". That is, that violence must be "of a physical nature", requires "the use of force", and must be exercised against "a person". It also must have "sufficient intensity to bend the will of those against whom it is directed".

Word-twisting

None of these conditions are given in the magistrate's text, where only the "capacity for intimidation" of the crowds that had gathered on September 20th is referred to as violence. He notes that Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart climbed on top of two Guardia Civil patrol cars, and describes in detail the situation of the police officers injured during the October 1st referendum (and assigns responsibility for this violence to those who gathered outside the polling stations).

Llarena's convoluted reasoning is semantic. As the facts don't fit the accepted definition, he establishes a difference between "violence" and "acting violently", which is "doing something in a violent manner, which does not present a typical content fully in agreement with acting with violence". This is a twisting of the dictionary that assumes that the adverb "violently" has a different content than the noun "violence". This, despite the fact that the official dictionary of the Spanish language defines "violently" as "in a violent way", without any additions or qualifications.

According to the judge, however, "acting violently" is outside the classic definition of violence that judges use, and allows it to be "projected onto material things". In his version of the events, Llarena justifies this alleged violence with the events of September 20th, in which "the crowd acted with massed force", "destroyed police vehicles, and attacked personal property", and goes further and states that their actions "restricted the ability to act as a consequence of the use of force", and compares it with "the taking of hostages by firing shots into the air".

The judge admits that the violence was not "planned from the beginning as an instrument for achieving independence", although he notes that investigation of this must continue. He notes that they "accepted the risk of a clearly representable violence" by encouraging people to demonstrate despite the deployment of police forces. That is, again, and as he has done in previous writings, Llarena lays the blame for the police violence on those who were its victims.

No mention of "Enfocats"

The document "Enfocats" (Focused) had become the main piece of evidence in the majority of briefs issued by Llarena up to now. The judge based his justification for the the defendants’ participation in the process of rebellion on the annotations found in this PowerPoint file in the home of Josep María Jové, [deputy president] Oriol Junqueras' deputy at the Ministry of Economy. The weakness of this evidence had been made evident by defense teams on various occasions. Llarena practically ignores it in this accusatory brief, and instead targets the "White Book" put together by the Advisory Council for the National Transition as the touchstone that initiated the independence process, and which describes the steps that followed, which he uses to justify charges of planned and coordinated action. The references to "Enfocats" now are down to three mentions in footnotes.

Translation: Ara, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

 

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March 23: Moment in the Catalan National Theatre when the actors announce that they are cancelling tonight's performance because of the jailing of the Catalan leaders.

 

March 23: Images and video from tonight's demonstrations against the the jailing of the five Catalan leaders and in solidarity with ERC national secretary Marta Rovira, who has gone into exile.

 

• Barcelona (ANC and Òmnium Cultural demonstration)  and demonstration called by CDRs outside Spanish government delegation.
• Barcelona (demonstrators outside the Spanish government delegation chanting to police "Your minister [Joaquin Forn] is in jail")
• Barcelona (demonstrators clash with police outside Spanish government delegation)
• Vic (central square packed with demonstration in solidarity with Marta Rovira)
• Tarragona
• Girona
• Lleida
• Berga
• Sabadell

 

Other images here

 

March 23: Tweet of Carles Puigdemont: "The day that the UN demands of Spain that it respect the rights of Jordi Sànchez, the judge sends five of our comrades to prison for their ideas and their commitment. The anti-democratic Spanish state is Europe's shame."

 

March 23: Judge Llarena issues international arrest warrants for Carles Puigdemont, Marta Rovira, Toni Comín, Meritxell Serret, Lluís Puig and Clara Ponsatí.

 

March 23: Jordi Turull demands via his lawyer that the investiture session set down for tomorrow be maintained despite his imprisonment.

 

March 23: Demonstrations all over Catalonia against jailing of leaders (Barcelona's central Diagonal filling up with protestors below).

 

Missing image.

 

"Obeying the mandate of the people is no crime"

 

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March 23: Llarena sends all five Catalan leaders out on bail into indefinite detention. They are Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva, Josep Rull, Dolors Bassa and Carme Forcadell.

 

March 23: Supreme Court judge Llarena charges 13 outgoing Catalan leaders with "rebellion", carrying up to 30 years jail. They are: President Carles Puigdemont (in exile), vice-president Oriol Junqueras (in jail), minister of state and JxCat candidate for president Jordi Turull (out of jail on bail), foreign affairs minister Raül Romeva (out of jail on bail), health minister Toni Comín (in exile), infrastructure and tranport minister Josep Rull (out of jail on bail), social welfare minister Dolors Bassa (out of jail on bail), education minister Clara Ponsatí (in exile), interior minister Joaquin Forn (in jail), parliament speaker Carme Forcadell (out of jail on bail), Òmnium Cultual president Jordi Cuixart (in jail), former ANC president Jordi Sànchez (in jail) and ERC national secretary Marta Rovira (in exile).

 

March 23: ERC national secretary Marta Rovira informs the ERC membership that she will not appear before the Supreme Court today and is going into exile.

 

March 23: Joan Tardà, ERC lead MP in the Spanish parliament, calls on Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín to relinquish their seats and allow a republican majority not dependent on the CUP.

 

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Missing image.

 

March 23: Tweet of Jordi Turull on being sent back to prison by Judge Llarena

 

TRANSLATION

 

I have been jailed for having been loyal to the mandate of those who chose me as a representative of the people of Catalonia, to the President, to the Government and to Parliament.
Please dedicate all your energies to peacefully defending democracy and the dignity of Catalonia. I have total hope and confidence in the people of Catalonia. They have never failed and they will not do so now.
Blanca, Laura, Marta, parents, brothers and friends, don't suffer on my behalf. I'm fine because I'm convinced of what I'm doing, which is not a crime, and I have done harm to no-one.
I love you.
Long live democracy
Long live Catalonia

 

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March 22: Catalan parlament fails to invest Turull as president (absolute majority needed). Vote: For 64 (JxCat, ERC) Against 65 (Citizens, PSC, PP, CatECP) Abstentions 4 (CUP) Unable to vote 2 (Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin). El Nacional account here.

 

March 22: Civil Guard leaks its report to Supreme Court judge Llarena, attributing a central role to Jordi Turull in the preparation of the October 1 referendum.

 

March 22: CUP Political Council decides to continue to abstain on the investing of Jordi Turull as president.

 

March 22: Spanish PM Rajoy suspends trip to Angola because of developments in Catalonia.

 

March 22: Supreme Court judge Llarena maintains outgoing interior minister Joaquim Forn and Jordi Sànchez in prison.,

 

March 22: ERC and JxCat offer CUP a no-confidence motion in a month if its MPs vote in favour of investiture of Turull.

 

March 22: Citizens calls on Torrent to convene speakership panel to discussion calling off this afternoon's plenary.

 

March 22: Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català admits that investiture of Turull would be legal

 

March 22: Citizens demands that this afternon's investiture session be called off.

 

March 22:  Torrent: "It's not up to the Moncloa [Spanish PM's HQ] to decide the suitability of candidates, but up to the parliament."

 

March 22: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent: "We have called today's plenary session to defend the political rights of the MPs."

 

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Comment (Sebastià Alzamora, Ara, March 22)

 

Llarena, the bar of justice

 

According to Catalan MP Joan Josep Nuet—who was included in the first group of Catalan politicians called to testify before the Supreme Court in the case against the independence process—Court judge Llarena welcomed them by saying: ”Relax, this is not the National Court". This came after the Spanish Supreme Court decided to take charge of the investigation of the case, and after judge Carmen Lamela, of the National Court, had remanded the two Jordis to provisional prison without bail (they are still behind bars, more than five months later). The only difference that comes to mind is that Lamela acted shamelessly as a judge whose decisions are biased by political instructions, while Llarena has tried to give his resolutions and judicial statements a technically more elaborate appearance. This, however has been completely undone by his most recent decisions: not allowing Jordi Sànchez to attend the investiture session for the presidency, and now citing Jordi Turull to appear, with the possibility of sending him to prison, just a few hours after the Speaker of the House, Roger Torrent, announced a third round of talks to propose him as a candidate for the presidency. The judge and all those who want to continue proclaiming the alleged independence of Spanish justice can dress it up with as many technicalities as they want, but the political persecution that lies behind these decisions is brazen and crass.
 
Llarena, however, insists on trying to conceal this third obstacle to the formation of a government in Catalonia within the overly muddy waters of the general case [against Catalan independence]. And so, in order that people not say that he is moving only against Turull, he has also called Carme Forcadell, Marta Rovira and three ex-ministers who, like Turull, have already suffered the ignominy of being political prisoners: Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa and Josep Rull. All of them could be sent, or returned, to jail following Friday's statement. No matter how you look at it, they can only be charged with crimes of opinion, the kind of offence that is only prosecuted (without ever calling it by name, of course) in authoritarian regimes. Like that which is being imposed in Spain, with the determined support, it must be said, of a large segment (probably a majority) of the Spanish people, the media, and the political parties with the highest representation in Madrid’s parliament.
 
Former Catalan Attorney General José María Mena claims that the imprisoned Catalan leaders are political prisoners. An ex-magistrate of the Supreme Court, José Antonio Martín Pallín, has denounced that the current situation reminds him of what he experienced during Franco's dictatorship. He also claims that Llarena is guilty of wilfully neglecting his duty, and warns that the whole case against the independence process could be invalid. Professor of Constitutional Law Javier Pérez Royo also sees neglect of duty, and insists that all Catalan citizens could file complaints against Llarena because he has also violated their rights. Because these are weighty opinions, Llarena —a keen judge—persists in proving them right. And thus the bar of Spanish justice and democracy has been precisely set.

 

Translation: Ara

 

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March 21: Spokesperson for the Spanish government says that investiture of Turull is "doomed to failure" and that article 155 intervention will stay in place until an investiture of a candidate not facing legal proceedings takes place.

 

March 21: Parliament speaker Roger Torrent convenes investiture session for tomorrow, at 5pm, with Jordi Turull as candidate for president.

 

March 21: Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau visits Catalan political prisoners in Soto de Real and Estremera jails.

 

March 21: ERC leaves its members facing possible charges off its list of ministers in a new Catalan government.

 

March 21: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena summons Catalan leaders out on bail--Carme Forcadell (ERC), Jordi Turull (JxCat), Raül Romeva (ERC), Josep Rull (JxCat), Dolors Bassa (ERC) and Marta Rovira ERC)--to appear before him on March 23 to hear how investigations are proceding against them and whether he will revoke their bail conditions and detain them again.

 

March 21: Puigdemont at Geneva conference on "Does independence still matter in 21st century Europe" defends the importance of creating new small states so as to advance towards a federal, less centralised, Europe, "borrowing from the Swiss model".

 

March 21: Judge in Reus magistrate's court number 2 orders the arrest of Reus CUP councilor Mariona Quadrada for refusing to attend court to be investigated on charges of "inciting hatred" towards Spanish police for their actions on October 1.

 

March 21: Jordi Pina (Lawyer of Jordi Sànchez): "I have the feeling that the prosecutor has the idea that the ANC and Òmnium are what's really responsible for the existence of pro-independence people in Catalonia."

 

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Ferreres, Ara, March 22

 

Missing image.
At a Catalan Easter Show--Knock over the candidate! Two down (Puigdemont and Sànchez), one to go (Turull)

 

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March 20: Philosopher and journalist Jordi Graupera proposes that pro-independence parties agree to a primaries process that would enable them to present a single ticket against Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau and Barcelona Together in the 2019 municipal election.

 

March 20: Spanish state prosecutor proposes the release from jail of outgoing Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn on bail of €100,000.

 

March 20: Jordi Sànchez stands down as a Catalan MP, opening the way for another member of JxCat to be invested as president. The "Plan C" candidate is outgoing minister Jordi Turull, presently out of prison on bail.

 

March 20: The Constitutional Court rejects the PSC's request that the two-month countdown period for the election of a Catalan president start immediately (the parliamentary regulation says it starts on the day of the first failure to elect a president).

 

March 20: The Spanish state prosecutor calls on judge Pablo Llarena to order the withdrawal of the passports of the Catalan politicians in exile.

 

March 20: Alejandro Fernández, PP MP in the Catalan parliament, calls on the speaker Roger Torrent to withdraw an amendment to the parliamentary regulations that would allow investiture in absentia. He indicates that refusal will see the PP appeal the amendment to the Constitutional Court.

 

March 20: Dídac Ríos, appearing in Tarragona magistrate's court on the possible charge of illegally cloning the October 1 referendum web site, refuses to declare.

 

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Debate: Which way forward (Esther Vera, Ara, March 18)

 

Missing image.

 

The right honourable presidency

 

According to the chronicle, it was at the 1359 General Court of Catalonia —convened in the city of Cèrbere— where Berenguer de Cruïlles, the first ever president of the Generalitat [the Catalan government], was elected. The date was December 19, 1359. Obviously, the institution and its objectives have evolved through the centuries, as has the profile of the men on whom the highest political office in Catalonia has been bestowed. The historical perspective draws a line of dignity with any rough edges smoothed over by the forgiving passage of time, which affords greatness to people and events. Distance is always kinder than closeness to details and imperfections.

Today, one hundred and thirty presidents and a thousand historical tribulations later, the Generalitat of Catalonia is being run from Madrid. That is the blunt truth. The project of creating a republic remains on the electoral horizon of the majority in parliament, but after the events of last October and the declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament, today Catalonia is not a republic and it has had its devolved powers taken away. A loose interpretation of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution has brought us direct rule, is keeping four leaders behind bars pending trial and the Catalan president in exile, while —day in and day out— the rule of law is bent for reasons of ideology and opinion. It is an unfair, abusive state of affairs, but the fact is that the Generalitat is represented by the Spanish government when their party —the Partido Popular— has the smallest number of seats in the Catalan chamber. Select areas within the Catalan administration have been brought to a standstill by Madrid, while the Catalan school system is under threat and government officials are being sacked for political reasons.

With a history that spans centuries —and four decades after the Generalitat was reinstated— it is urgent to regain the institution and restore its honourability. This is not a fanciful proposition, but the need to restore the political institution in accordance with the parliamentary majority arising from the elections in December last year. The goal ought to be the restoration of the legitimate institution, but at the moment there is a danger that the faces might be confused with the institution. The presidency of a nation cannot be made effective from Brussels or a prison cell, and an exercise in useful, constructive leadership is required. Resisting Madrid’s recentralisation efforts is something that must be done from the institutions, the only place where a democratic majority can be build through political action.

The independent spirit

“What the hell is going on? What are they keeping from us? What was the point of getting beaten on October 1 and why are we suffering reprisals? Was it all for nothing? What does electing an effective candidate mean? One that has been anointed by the Spanish government? Enough is enough! We must stand by the people’s will as expressed at the ballot box”. Those were the words of Jordi Pairó, a member of the board of the Catalan National Assembly, as he addressed the crowd gathered in Barcelona at the grassroots group’s rally on Sunday last week. Also present were several politicians who might be facing between seven and twenty-five years in jail. However, Pairó was not alone: “I took my chances and now I expect my representatives to follow suit”, stated a representative of the firefighters who support independence. Not only is this sort of talk unfair, but it is also futile. It can only be understood from a magical thinking viewpoint on politics or the self-deceit of a segment of the independence movement that refuses to face the facts and is always ready to shout “traitor”.

It is only through an independent spirit, self-criticism and by taking a long, hard look at the facts that we will be able to overcome the crisis in which Catalonia, its institutions and Catalan society find themselves today.

To fight against this age

This newspaper has dispatched a team to the Mediterranean Sea embedded with Catalan NGO Proactiva Open Arms. Yesterday over two hundred refugees disembarked in Sicily. Our reporters have witnessed the rescue of hundreds of people who flee poverty and war but go on to become the victims of our poor Europe, which intends to put them back on the Libyan gunboats that the EU paid for.

Dutch thinker Rob Riemen has written two essays in To Fight Against This Age which are an eye-opener and a warning against the dangers of populism and fascism. He argues that we should learn several lessons from history. First lesson: Primo Levy. Second lesson: Adorno. Third lesson: Winston Churchill: “We will have to build a United States of Europe, we will have to proclaim with determination that the spiritual idea of Europe will never die because we shall revive it”. Every one of us has a responsibility with the future. Every day fortress Europe will become older and pettier. The fear of others is spreading and denying the pressure of migrants whilst ignoring the EU’s solidarity quotas merely conceals the problem rather than solve it. The mercury is rising in the streets of Spain and other European countries. We need responsible political leaders who are prepared to make difficult decisions and speak the truth. Otherwise we will sink in the mud of populism.

Translation: Ara

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March 19: Italian authorities impound the vessel of Catalan NGO Proactiva Open Arms, dedicated to rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean, on the grounds that its crew could face charges of "human trafficking". The head of Proactiva Open Arms is Oscar Camps, 2017 Catalan of the Year.

 

March 19: Former CUP MPs Mireia Boya and Anna Gabriel, facing possible charges of rebellion, ask that the Constitutional Court rule that any case involving them be heard by the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and not the Spanish Supreme Court.

 

March 19: Former Supreme Court prosecutor and judge José Antonio Martín Pallín to Geneva human rights seminar: "It would not be admissable in any European parliamentary system for a judge to prevent a parliamentarian from attending parliament."

 

March 19: Carles Puigdemont and Anna Gabriel (ex-CUP MP exiled in Switzerland) address seminar on human rights violations in Catalonia and Spain in UN building in Geneva (below).

 

Missing image.

 

March 19: Puigdemont to visit Finland later this week.

 

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Week ending March 18

 

152 nights with political prisoners

 

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Main events, March 12-18

 

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March 18: Puigdemont speaks at International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva (video in French below, with machine translation into English subtiles available: click on "Settings" wheel). El Nacional account here.

 

 

March 18: JxCat offers the CUP a mid-term motion of confidence in exchange for supporting investiture of JxCat-ERC government.

 

March 18: Former French PM Manuel Valls, of Catalan family, tells Catalonia Radio that nationalism guarantees war: "If each region in Europe decided at the ballot box to break up states, neither Spain nor Italy would exist."

 

March 18: Catalan Civil  Society demonstration in Barcelona attracts 7000, according to municipal police. Present: PSC, PP and PSC leaders and  Manuel Valls (see below, with banner reading "Long Live the Unity of Spain").

 

Missing image.

 

March 17: (El Nacional) A second Finnish MP asks why Barcelona consul was sacked.

 

March 17: ANC election result. University of Barcelona economist Elisenda Paluzie wins highest support of 54 candidates competing for 25 nationally elected positions on the 77-seat ANC national secretariat. The other positions are elected regionally (50) and to represent Catalans overseas (2).

 

Comment: 7155 ANC members took part (19.51% of the membership roll), with Paluzie winning 5062 votes. She was followed by Joan Canadell, the co-founder of the Catalan Business Circle (3152 votes) and David Minoves, the president of the Escarré International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations (CIEMEN), with 3026 votes.

 

Minoves came in first of the three candidates who have already declared that they will stand for ANC president, to be decided by the national secretariat next weekend. The others, ANC press chief Adrià Alsina (2788 votes) and Catalan Business Circle vice-president David Fernàndez (2796 votes) came in sixth and fifth respectively, after lawyer and historian Pep Cruanyes (2949 votes).

 

The result is being read as a defeat for the ANC "powers-that-be", because a co-founder of the ANC, Pere Pugès, sent out an informal "How To Vote" on which Alsina's name appeared, but not those of Paluzie, Minoves or Cruanyes. This attempt to indicate an "official ticket" seems to have backfired.

 

Paluzie won the ballot without actually pronouncing a position on the debate that is convulsing the entire pro-independence camp, mass movements and parties alike: does the movement, having won the October 1 referendum, have the strength to move directly to "unfolding the Republic", or does the independence camp have to procede more cautiously, winning more social support in an atmosphere of social division being deliberately fostered by the Spanish government, the unionist parties and the unionist movement Catalan Civil Society?

 

March 17: 8000 march in Barcelona in defence of the Catalan education model (below).

 

Missing image: Barcelona demonstration for Catalan education model, March 17.

 

March 17: Mass protests against miserable pensions and insulting 0.25% rise across the Spanish state: Barcelona, Zaragoza, A Coruña, Bilbo (Bilbao), Gasteiz (Vitoria), Iruñea (Pamplona), Málaga, Sevilla, Valladolid, Santander, Cáceres and Alicante.
Madrid demonstration below.

 

Missing image: Pernsioner demonstration in Madrid, March 17.

 

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March 16: JxCat MPs not affilated to PDECat form the association Together for the Republic.

 

March 16: Federalist sector of Catalonia Together (CatEC) draws 300 to meeting in Barcelona, where the "indefinition" of the party's territorial proposal is criticised.

 

March 16: Basque parliament adopts resolution calling for the ending of the Spanish government's article 155 intervention in Catalonia, the release of the Catalan political prisoners and the return of the exiled MPs. In favour 57 (Basque Nationalist Party, EH Bildu, Elkarrekin Podemos), against 18 (PP, PSOE).

 

March 16: Demonstrations across Catalonia in support of Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, in jail for five months. Puigdemont addresses Girona demonstration direct via videolink. Exiled MP Anna Gabriel and outgoing ministers Clara Ponsatí and Meritxell Serret send video messages from Switzerland, Scotland and Brussels.

 

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(Below) First of October Square, Sant Julià de Ramis (Gironès). Over 20 Catalan municipalities have already renamed streets and squares to recall the heroic achievement of the October 1 referendum carried out against Spanish police agression.

 

Missing image: First October Square, St Juli de Ramis.

 

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March 16: Spanish government sacks Antoni Molons, Catalan Secretary of Information and Citizen Support, arrested yesterday by the Civil Guard.

 

March 16: Amnesty International demands the withdrawal of charges against the Jordis and their immediate release.

 

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Comment (Vicenç Villatoro, Ara, March 16)

 

March 16: Humiliate and destroy

 

Immediately following Strasbourg’s slap in the face for the Spanish judicial system, and coinciding with the Spanish deputy PM’s extremely aggressive public statements, a police operation, more symbolic and headline-grabbing than practical in nature, took place in the offices of the presidency of the Catalan government and the headquarters of the cultural association Òmnium Cultural.

The message is clear: faced with what they call the "secessionist defiance", the Spanish state has objectives that it refuses to give up, not even due to international pressure —which so far has been weak— whatever the response from the pro-independence movement. The state believes this defiance offers the possibility of solving the Catalan problem once and for all. And such a solution obviously doesn’t involve persuasion, or even defeating it, in the strictest sense of the word. It involves destroying its roots.

This means humiliating it to start with. Secondly, dismantling or debasing what it considers to be the instruments of Catalanism: the Catalan police force, the public broadcasting corporation and the school system, but above all, the Catalan government itself as a self-governing institution, upon which everything else depends. And finally, politically deactivating –even if it means ruining their lives–-a whole generation of pro-independence political and social leaders.

The message is that it’s underway and that they have no intention of stopping. I don’t think they’ll get away with it, but a lot of people are bound to suffer in the meantime.

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March 15: Demonstration called by CDRs outside Civil Guard HQ in Barcelona inner suburb, Gràcia (below).

 

Missing image: March 15 demonstration outside Civil Guard HQ, Gracia.

 

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March 15: Demonstration in St James Square against this morning's Civil Guard raids (below).

 

Missing image: Barcelona protest against Civil Guard raids (St James Square, 15-03-18).

 

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March 15: Spanish Supreme Court confirms refusal to allow Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Sànchez to attend investiture session.

 

March 15: Spanish prosecutor-general's office asks Swiss authorities of possibility of a European arrest warrant working in case of impending visit to Switzerland of Carles Puigdemont and outgoing Catalan agriculture minister Meritxell Serret. Swiss reply that there is no legal basis for their arrest.

 

March 15: Civil Guard raids on headquarters of Òmnium Cultural and the headquarters of the Catalan government. Antoni Molons, Secretary of Information and Citizen Support, is arrested while email accounts of Òmnium Cultural are searched. Search warrant specifies that no protest can be called against the raid.

 

March 15: Vidal Aragonès (CUP MP), interviewed on La Xarxa: "We don't draw lines in the sand, we draw a general line. What are JxCat and the ERC going to do? Manage a regional government for four years? We won't have anything to do with that, we want to build the Republic."

 

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Interview (by Martí Estruch Axmacher, Vilaweb, March 14)

Axel Schönberger: “Spain hasn’t been a democracy since October 27, 2017”

Bremen University professor and activist for Catalonia's rights speaks out

Missing image: Axel Schoenberger

Germans are less doubtful than Catalans. That was the beginning of a WhatsApp message that

 

Missing image:went viral a couple of weeks ago among independence supporters in Catalonia, and it included a number of opinions by professor Axel Schönberger. Indeed, he has no qualms about criticising the Spanish state and refer to it as a dictatorship. But who is this German linguist, a specialist in Latin and Romance languages, who has put his scientific endeavours on hold in order to further the Catalan cause? This interview will attempt to shed some light on the matter.

 

—Mr Schönberger, are you aware that the Catalan version of your article titled ‘Die Wahl zwischen Freiheit und Knechtschaft’ (‘Choosing between Freedom and Slavery’) has gone viral on Catalonia’s social and mobile networks? Are you surprised?
—A little. At the end of the day, my article merely states what anyone in their right mind would say if they had followed the situation in Catalonia and been given the basic facts. Most Catalans shouldn’t be surprised by my words. If people show an interest, it is likely due to the shocking conspiracy of silence that exists in European politics on the subject of the Catalan nation and its legitimate right to self-determination. Since the main political leaders in Europe treat Catalans as if they were Spain’s slaves rather than EU citizens, I guess in Catalonia they must be grateful that a foreigner such as myself should say what Ms Merkel and Mr Macron —as well as Messrs Juncker, Tajani and Tusk— should have stated a long time ago, if they gave any credence to Article 2 of the EU Treaty and the European Convention of Human Rights.

 

—You are a linguist and a man of letters. How come you have decided to take a public stand and voice your support for the Catalan cause?
—Having seen the horrific news coming from Catalonia on October 1, that same day I decided to put my scientific endeavours temporarily on hold, get involved in the Catalan people’s legitimate cause and denounce the repeated violations of human rights by the Spanish state. At present, Catalonia is being subjected to an illegal dictatorship. In collusion with Spain’s Constitutional Court, as well as the National and the Supreme courts, the Spanish regime is staging the most devastating attack on Catalonia’s institutions and self-government since the Franco regime officially ended and, increasingly, against the use of the Catalan and Occitan languages.

 

—Does the difficult situation in Catalonia extend beyond its borders?
—Yes, what is going on in Catalonia concerns all EU citizens. The freedom of Catalans, which must be defended, is the freedom of all the EU citizens who are worthy and just. The other countries in the world cannot accept that a regime and its judicial system have violated the law, the European Convention on Human Rights —including the Treaty on EU—, the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, therefore, international laws that countries are expected to abide by. I am totally convinced that what is at stake in Catalonia today is not only the struggle against demophobic oppression and the crypto-colonial exploitation of the Catalan people, but the very future of the European project and Europe’s fundamental values. If Messrs Juncker, Tajani and Tusk prevail, you can wave goodbye to the European ideal.

 

I like to call a spade a spade, and a crime a crime. Mariano Rajoy and his deputy, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, together with their accomplices in the Spanish government, senate and the highest courts of law, as well as the leaders of Ciudadanos and the socialist party are all responsible for major violations of Spanish and international laws. I hope that one day they will be held to account for their actions before an international court.

 

—How do you see the fact that there are political prisoners in an EU country?
—It is outrageous that in Spain there are honest politicians kept behind bars who, objectively, have not committed any crimes and have conducted themselves in a fair, peaceful manner following their political convictions. It is even more outrageous that they are being kept in prison so they may not defend their political views and exercise their civil rights. And it is truly shocking that the parliamentary immunity of democratically elected representatives has been disregarded. No matter how I look at it, I see the Spanish state spiralling down into a despicable abyss of violations of law and human rights. As a German, I can’t help but compare it to the early years of National Socialism.

 

—The Spanish police brutality on October 1 and the subsequent events, the crackdown, the attacks on free speech, the political prisoners … do you believe these damage Spain’s international prestige and might even put into question the quality of democracy in Spain?
—Your question assumes that Spain is a democracy. Spain has not been a democracy since October 27, 2017! By violating Spanish law and human rights, the Spanish regime deposed the democratically elected government of Catalonia and imposed a dictatorship on Catalonia, which is still in place today. The elections on December 21 last year, which were imposed by the Spanish PM in what constitutes an obvious violation of the corresponding Spanish organic law, returned a clear mandate to reinstate Carles Puigdemont as the 130th president of the Generalitat.

 

The authoritarian, demophobic nature of the Spanish regime, which contravenes human rights, became apparent again when they prevented Carles Puigdemont from being elected president. Incidentally, he should have been granted parliamentary immunity. Therefore, Spain cannot be classed as a democracy. After the coup d’état on October 27, it has become a post-democratic system, which displays the traits of a dictatorship that disregards human rights in Catalonia.

 

—There is little international reaction however…
—What is going on in Spain is still unknown in many countries. However, it is only a matter of time before Spain’s reputation takes a blow within the international community. The current regime led by Mariano Rajoy and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, together with judges who bend the law, like Pablo Llarena and Carmen Lamela, soils Spain’s image, is hugely damaging and will soon cause Spanish people to be embarrassed about their nationality. Also, as with South Africa in the past, Spain may eventually face an international boycott which would harm its economy.

 

Furthermore, the brutal illegal actions of the Spanish regime against Catalonia and, in particular, the arrests of Catalan political leaders and the main representatives of civil society, together with the financial chokehold on honourable leaders such as Artur Mas mean that the Catalan people’s natural right to self-determination and to decide its political future freely are now backed by the right to remedial secession from Spain, as enshrined in international law.

 

—Are you worried by how events are unfolding in Catalonia? At some point you voiced your concern over the possibility that Spain might use its armed forces and we might find ourselves on the brink of a civil war.
—Yes. Prior to October 1, there were reports that unknown airplanes had mapped out potential military targets from the air all over Catalonia. In addition, in September Pizarro tanks and other heavy military assets were moved to Catalonia ahead of a possible intervention. The king of Spain, who is actually the commander in chief of the armed forces, showed himself to be an ally of the Partido Popular in his TV address on October 3. Spain’s defence minister mentioned a few times that, besides imposing direct rule, the Spanish army was also ready to “restore order” in Catalonia and defend Spain’s unity.

 

—Do you think they would be so rash as to use the army?
—Obviously the Madrid regime had contemplated using the army to crush any resistance by the Catalan people. Also, it was important to give the impression that the Spanish regime was willing to use military force against civilians, which is important in terms of psychological warfare. When you consider that Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Marta Rovira and other Catalan politicians mentioned the matter and acted in such a way that the Spanish regime had no chance to send in their troops to shoot peaceful Catalan people, I believe I was not mistaken when I warned that the Spanish military might intervene to crush the Catalan revolution after October 1.

 

—You have spoken in favour of massive civil disobedience against the Spanish authorities and ignoring any orders from Spain’s courts of law, which you believe are illegitimate. Do you actually think that is the way to go?

 

—Yes. I can only see three possibilities. The first one is a situation of armed rebellion which would leave many dead and wounded, and would turn Spain into a crisis zone, like Palestine or Kurdistan. I hope that will never happen. So far the responsible, peaceful, exemplary, non-violent attitude of the defenders of Catalan sovereignty suggests that it won’t come to that. It is precisely that behaviour what makes the legal position of those who argue for Catalan independence unassailable. Take a look at the ruling handed down by the International Court of Law in the Hague on July 22, 2010 on the validity of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence (Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo), which was issued at the request of the UN’s General Assembly. You can clearly conclude that Catalonia also has the right to proclaim independence unilaterally, if Spain refuses to engage in talks and Catalans aim to achieve their goals through peaceful means.

 

—And the second possibility?
—It’s the possibility that the sum of all possible and conceivable actions might lead to the Spanish state de facto losing its grip on Catalonia, while the Catalan Republic’s statehood structures are built abroad. An unjust state such as Spain deserves neither respect nor obedience. The Spanish regime has always refused flat out to engage in talks with the Catalan government whenever it has been invited to. Why should Catalans continue to abide by Spain’s rules and laws and remain oppressed, dominated and exploited? Spain infringes upon the basic rights of the Catalan people. It is legitimate to resist the illegal dictatorship that the Spanish state has imposed on Catalonia at every level and make it impossible for Spain to rule Catalonia. The international community will recognise whatever government is able to effectively rule in Catalonia. At present, it is still the Spanish regime.

 

At the same time, the Spanish economy must pay a price for the oppression in Catalonia by means of general strikes and boycotts at home and abroad. This should amount to at least ten times the revenue that Spain obtains from Catalonia. That’s when economic sense will prevail and Spain will be forced to end its opposition to Catalonia’s freedom. If that happens, I am certain that Spain will try to milk Valencia and the Balearics even more, and will question the financial autonomy of the Basque Country in order to make up for the lost revenue in Catalonia.

 

—What would the third option be?
—Finally, the third option is Catalonia’s unconditional surrender to Spain’s dictate. If Catalans wish to go down that path, they might fool themselves pretending to have regained control of their institutions and should behave in such a way that Spain never chokes them again by bringing back direct rule. This would put Catalans in a position of quasi-slavery and, ultimately, their language and culture would fade away due to Spain’s ever more aggressive assimilation policies. If they wish to go down that path, all they need to do is elect Ciudadanos leader Inés Arrimadas as their new president and vote PP leader Xavier García Albiol as her deputy. I am certain that both would prove to be most diligent at destroying the identity of the Catalan people and promote the Spanish language in order to replace Catalan and Occitan.

 

—You told me that you would not be travelling back to Catalonia until it is an independent republic. Are you not afraid that might take a very long time?
—I’m not. Mariano Rajoy, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Pablo Llarena and many other Spanish political leaders, prosecutors and judges are speeding up the Catalan independence process. Their repressive actions —which violate human rights— increase the number of people who sympathise with Catalonia’s independence bid. You also have objective facts: income per capita and welfare in general would improve in an independent Catalan republic; at last, infrastructures would be renovated and you would begin to build the welfare state that the Catalan parliament has started to promote but that Spain’s Constitutional Court is determined to destroy. And you would be able to bring in new policies to promote research and stimulate the economy, which are key for Catalonia in a fast-changing global economy. As a result, some of those who do not support independence yet will realise that secession offers a better future for Catalonia.

 

Many Catalans feel their dignity is wounded by the fact that the Spanish regime treats them like slaves who have no rights, fires rubber bullets at them when they go to the polls peacefully and sends them Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría to rule over them as a dictatrix. The Catalan people will never forget that! They will pursue their goal relentlessly and will eventually achieve it because it is right for them to do so and Spain’s bullying tactics do nothing but fuel the pro-independence movement. Therefore, I have every reason to feel confident that I will be able to travel to Catalonia soon and be happy to see how Catalans are building a new country in complete freedom and with dignity. I am certain that the new Catalan Republic will be either a model EU country or another Switzerland in an enviable geostrategic position. Soon enough, the Catalan Republic will become a leading nation internationally and I will be delighted to visit back once it is a free, sovereign country at last.

 

Translation: Vilaweb

 

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Missing image: Banner at Barcelona-Chelsea match, 14-03-18

 

March 14: Banner at Camp Nou, Barcelona v. Chelsea

 

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Comment (Liz Castro, El Món, March 14)

 

Let’s Save the Assembly!
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NOTE: Liz Castro, born in California, has been a long-standing supporter of Catalan independence, and is the author of various books on the Catalan independence cause. She was the most-voted candidate in the 2015 election for the 77-member ANC Secretariat, but lost the election for president to Jordi Sànchez, by 54 votes to 20.

 

The present election for the ANC Secretariat has been marked by controversy, with 18 candidates, including for the position of president, initially being ruled out by the election commission. The best-known of these was journalist and former CUP lead MP Antonio Baños, ruled to have violated the ban on candidates speaking in public by appearing on a radio chat show (even though no discussion of his candidacy took place on the program in question).

 

The controversy over the exclusion of candidates meant that the election for the ANC secretariat had to be halted. Twelve of the candidates who had initially been excluded have since been readmitted to the list, but Baños is not one of them.

 

In a March 13 tweet, Agusti Alcoberro , the outgoing ANC vice-president (and acting president since the September 28 jailing of Jordi Sànchez) said: “If comrade Antonio Baños can’t be a candidate to the National Secretariat of the ANC we must be doing something  very badly.”

 

See here for the result of the election.
________________

 

What’s the Catalan National Assembly’s problem and how can it be solved? To start with, it suffers from the normal structural problems of any organisation that has acquired 40,000 members in four years. It has grown big and it has grown timid; in contrast to 2012, it now has a lot to lose. This can be seen in the growth of hierarchy in its central structure, an attempt to control the energy and enthusiasm of the rank and file. Try to do something in the ANC and they suffocate you with unproductive meetings and endless discussions.
 
That’s the normal part. The not-so-normal part is that to get something through these endless and inefficient meetings what counts is not the strength of any proposal, but the number of allies you have from various related groupings. I’m not talking so much about people of one party as against people of another, but rather a conflict between people with an across-the-board approach, who believe in the Assembly as the voice of a diverse people, and party people or simply ambitious people who want to use it as a tool or as a ladder.
 
There are many who say, and rightly so, that we have to reduce the influence of parties on the Assembly. The problem is how this is to be done and what it means. I always found it interesting that the people who harped on most about parties were precisely the ones who always voted along the lines of the same party. On the other hand, those who were openly associated with one party or another worked far more for the goals of the Assembly. We all have political preferences. Whoever is in a political grouping like the Assembly and doesn’t tell you about them, is simply concealing them. The important thing is not to throw out "the party people", but to be transparent about alliances and, above all, party obligations. Obviously, this has not been done.

 

The Assembly was supposed to be a mass-meeting based organisation, but when I was on the Secretariat it was not that at all. Partly because of the structure itself.  With 77 Secretariat members in a meeting, even if everyone intervened for only a minute-and-a-half you could be there for hours and get nowhere. This structure simply doesn’t work. Secretariat members are supposed to be representative of their territorial assemblies but what happens in reality is that they vote according to the previously established blocs, the members of which were chosen before the elections themselves. Look at what happened in the last two elections: in one region after another, the regional secretaries did not vote for the national positions according to the vote in their region, but rather according to negotiations over the carve-up of power.
 
How could the Assembly be improved? With a board of eleven people, one from each region, including from overseas. Let these eleven people really represent their regions, and not their personal or political preferences. Let the rank-and-file really get the say we deserve. Let there be a clear and decentralised political strategy where local assemblies can carry out initiatives without asking permission from the central structure. Let any successful candidate taking office in the Assembly have to give up being part of any political list. Let elections be done with transparency, and in a fair and equal way. It makes no sense to be able to campaign for weeks, and with all the means available, even for the position of president, only for there suddenly to be a week of abnormal silence not at all understood by the membership and governed by draconian rules that nobody understands and are impossible to fulfill. All run by a (usually biased) representation on the electoral commission formed by outgoing secretaries who have taken part in working out the nominations submitted.

Aha, and we’ve already seen that the same old faces, those who just have to continue calling the shots, begin to circulate their lists of candidates. Why does that work? Because they themselves created the absurd process of elections where people cannot campaign, nobody knows the candidates, and nobody knows who to vote for. A clear and open campaign would be much better, with all the cards on the table, where everyone, particularly the candidates themselves, could take part, not just the hands pulling the strings from behind the curtain.
 
What I’m most concerned about is that those who want to manipulate the elections are so like the Government of Spain: they don’t trust the voice of the people. They don’t trust their own people’s movement, they don’t trust democracy. They find it necessary to exclude candidates that don’t control, limit the renewal of the Secretariat, carry on without listening to the voice of their own people. How bad it all is! This movement, and this organisation in particular, has been inspiring and special for its commitment to democracy and its rank and file, and if we lose this we’ll  only be rebuilding the same shit from which we are fleeing.

I have always believed in the ANC’s rank and file. I have seen how people work, and I myself have worked without expecting any reward, political or otherwise. I know that the rank and file are the strength of this movement and that they are real and powerful. If I have not said anything so far, it is because I wanted to believe that the ANC could be renewed but I see that they won’t allow us that. ANC people, let’s rise up and take back our Assembly. Let’s not allow them to again take it from us. I think we should have a new annual general convention, remake the structure from top to bottom, streamline the organisation and clean it up. I personally do not want, nor do the statutes allow me, to stand for the Secretariat, but I am more than willing to continue working from below so that the Assembly can be set straight again, and so that the next October 10¹ (or whatever day it is is), we can be at the doors of Parliament demanding that political undertakings be fulfilled so as to recover the freedom of this country that we all love.

 

Footnote

 

1. October 10 last year was the day president Puigdemont proclaimed the independence of Catalonia on the basis of the October 1 referendum result, and then suspended the declaration to allow negotiations with the Spanish state to take place. He has since said that this was mistaken and that the independence declaration should have been maintained and that it would have been politically and legally defensible.

 

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March 14: ANC launches proposal for 16th of each month to be a hunger strike in support of the Catalan political prisoners.

 

March 14: After meeting of JxCat MPs with Carles Puigdemont in Brussels, spokepserson Eduard Pujol announces that the formation will not advance a replacement candidate for Jordi Sànchez, but alsothat it  does not want to go to new elections ("let's close the door on that scenario").

 

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March 14: Swiss foreign ministry's official statement regarding Carles Puigdemont's planned visit to address forum on human rights, announced today:

 

Carles Puigdemont in Switzerland: FDFA reaffirms its position on Catalonia

 

Bern, 14.03.2018 - The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has taken note of the visit of Spanish politician Carles Puigdemont to Switzerland. This is a private visit on the invitation of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH). Mr Puigdemont is scheduled to make several public appearances during his stay in Switzerland.

In this connection, Switzerland reiterates that the question of Catalonia is an internal matter for Spain and should be handled within the framework of the Spanish constitutional order. The Swiss and Spanish authorities are in contact.
Mr Puigdemont's stay in Switzerland is governed by Swiss law and the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. As a Spanish citizen, Mr Puigdemont is entitled to travel freely within the Schengen area. He is also at liberty to give political speeches with due respect for the Swiss legal system. 

The authorities may take measures in the event of any disruptions of public order.

 

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March 14: Spanish Supreme Court decides to give parties to the appeal five days to supply it with their arguments in relation to Jordi Sànchez's appeal to its full bench against the ruling of judge Pablo Llarena preventing him from attending the March 10 investiture session of the Catalan parliament (later cancelled by speaker Roger Torrent),

 

March 14: Constitutional Court rules that the express procedure used to adopt the Law of Jurisdictional Transition in the Catalan Parliament on September 7 violated the rights of MPs opposed to the law.

 

March 14: Interview with Clara Ponsatí in The National (Scotland).

 

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Comment (Jordi Barbeta, El Nacional, March 13)

 

Aznar was right: we're on the verge of 'the big one'

 

The day after the 2012 Catalan election, José María Aznar (Spanish prime minister 1996-2004) presented the first volume of his memoirs and, during his talk, said that "Catalonia's unity will break before Spain's". He didn't say that Spain would take charge of tearing Catalonia apart. What couldn't be foreseen, almost six years ago now, was that after all the hopes and dreams placed in the independence process, the movement would shatter into so many groups, factions, lobbies and parties who disagree to the extent that all that remains is the wait for what seismologists call "the big one", in other words, the great crack which turns everything upside down in order to start over again, fight, suffer and lose one more time.

 

The break-up Aznar was referring to was probably that of Catalan society splitting into unionists and separatists, which has been a strategic objective of the Spanish right since the 1990s. However, this split, despite the results of the December 21 election, will never crystallise because two sides don't fight if one doesn't want to and independence supporters, the vast majority of them, place more importance on social harmony than independence. It's one of the country's characteristics, more interested in business than conquest.

 

It should be noticed how certain authors who aim to give intellectual coverage to the a por ellos ("go get them") idea denounce the slogan "Catalonia, a single people" as the ideological basis of Catalan nationalism, when in fact it was the slogan that the PSUC¹, an old Catalan communist party, presented as an alternative to the plans of the Catalan right. The Spanish nationalist political offensive needs "two peoples" in Catalonia and for that reason it puts emphasis on the language.

 

Weaker, more controllable and more incompetent

 

A divided Catalonia is weaker, more controllable and more incompetent and maybe to a greater extent than we had imagined, and precisely where we least expected. The most sordid side of the independence process is this antagonism built up by the parties and, above all, by leaders of the independence movement, which is now oozing out on all sides like pus, even as Madrid never stops its bombardments.

 

The president and vice-president didn't speak the day the Catalan republic was declared and it seems they have reasons to never speak again, as former minister Santi Vila says in a book² to which Sergi Sol has replied to to show the bad blood that is flowing³. As a result, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana (ERC)  have needed almost three months to reach something like an agreement which, in the blink of an eye, the CUP has put paid to, just to liven up the disaster even more. It has done so with enough fuss to cause collateral damage in the relationship between Puigdemont and his faithful and his own PDECat, who also don't agree on who should be the president in Catalonia. And the fracturing of the pro-independence world seems likely to increase in the near future because, with more than a year to go to the municipal elections, there are already half a dozen parties and platforms getting ready to fight for the mayoralty of Barcelona, doubtlessly the best thing that can happen for the unionist Citizens to conquer the City Hall with little effort. The multifaceted pitched battle has even reached those entrusted with keeping the peace, ANC and Òmnium Cultural, who have opted for different paths, going it alone--as was seen on Sunday⁴--with different strategies and a determination to get into competition.

 

In summary, the repressive offensive against the Catalan independence movement, combined with such self-destructive activity by the pro-independence world, is making it difficult for Catalonia to soon have a government that is capable of stability even if a president does get invested. Rather, it raises fears of a cataclysm in the form of collective political suicide--the "big one".

 

Footnotes:

 

1. United Socialist Party of Catalonia.

 

2. Of Heroes and Traitors: Catalonia's Dilemma, Caught Between Two Fires, just published in Catalan.

 

3. Sol's review of Vila's book is called "The Slug".

 

4. The March 11 demonstration was the first in years not called jointly by the two organisations, though Òmnium vice-president Marcel Mauri was prominent in the front row.

 

Translation: El Nacional amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau.

 

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March 13: Outgoing education minister Clara Ponsatí speaks to BBC Scotland.

 

March 13: Speakership panel of Catalan parliament asks its legal counsel for advice on how best to procede against Supreme Court judge Llarena's decision to bloc Jordi Sànchez from attending investiture session.

 

March 13: ERC urges JxCat to subsititute Jordi Sànchez as candidate for president with a another MP.

 

March 13: The Spanish Congress votes down a proposal from ERC to eliminate the crime of "offence to the Crown" from the criminal code. For: ERC, PDECat, PNB, Commitment, EH Bildu and Unidos Podemos. Against: PP, Citizens, PSOE. According to Citizens MP José Manuel Villegas, the aim of the ERC is "unlimited humiliation of Spain".

 

March 13: The European Court of Human Rights condemns the Spanish legal system for fining two Catalan demonstrators who burned a picture of the former king, Juan Carlos, at a protest in 2007. The court orders that the fines, of €2700 each--the price imposed by the Spanish National High Court for the protesters avoiding 15 months jail--be repaid along with €9000 each in compensation. The court unanimously rules that Spanish court decision violated article 10 of the European Human Rights Convention by interfering with freedom of expression, stating in its judgment that "an act of this kind has to be interpreted as a symbolic expression of dissatisfaction or protest". New York Times coverage here.

 

March 13: The Disciplinary Committee of the General Council of the Judicial Power fines a Barcelona judge €600 for referring in an email to Spanish security forces as "uniformed terrorists" for their action on October 1.

 

March 13: Basque parliament to demand the lifting of article 155 intervention in Catalonia (PNB and EH Bildu majority in favour).

 

March 13: ERC MP Ernest Maragall, interviewed by TV3, says he shares the CUP's position of disobedience towards the Spanish state, but says the key issue is "when, with whom, with what intensity and with what tactic. I share the verbs disobey and defy, but we have to decide that ourselves so as not to fall into the State's trap."

 

March 13: Amnesty International denounces the use of the charge "glorification of terrorism" to restrict freedom of expression in the Spanish state.

 

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Comment (Editorial, Ara, March 13)

 

pablo-llarena.jpg

 

Judge Llarena strikes down separation of powers

 

Would they have the courage to do the same to a candidate in the Spanish parliament?

 

Friday’s ruling by Supreme Court justice Pablo Llarena turning down Jordi Sànchez’s request to attend the Catalan parliament’s plenary session —where he was to be elected president of Catalonia— is a flagrant violation of the separation of powers in Spain. Up until this point, we had witnessed infringement of basic rights, unjustified abusive detention without bail and a pre-trial enquiry which constitutes, effectively, an all-out judicial persecution of the Catalan independence movement. Yesterday, though, the rule of law in Spain sank to a new low: a judge has taken the liberty to deny a Parliament the right to convene and hold a vote on the presidential candidate proposed by the Speaker of the House.

 

To quote Constitutional Law Professor Javier Pérez Royo: the powers of a Parliament are inviolable in a parliamentary democracy. The law sets out a single condition for someone to be elected president of Catalonia: they need to be an elected member of parliament whose voting rights are unrestricted. Obviously, Jordi Sànchez meets the legal requirements to be elected, even though he may be disqualified if he is found guilty by a court of law in a not-too-distant future. Claiming otherwise is akin to denying the principles of democratic legitimacy, parliamentary autonomy and, as we said above, separation of powers. Furthermore, it is a violation of the candidate’s right to stand and the active suffrage right of the Catalan voters who cast a ballot on December 21.

With his ruling, justice Llarena rises above the constitutional order and takes the liberty to advise the Catalan parliament’s Speaker to pick a fresh candidate from the Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) MPs because, in his opinion, Sànchez might actually be elected, unlike Juan Carlos Yoldi¹.

What sort of democracy is this, where a parliament is not allowed to decide who it may elect as president? Would they have the courage to do the same to a candidate in the Spanish parliament, or is this just about crushing the democratic will of the Catalan people? Still, Llarena has gone even further and, following arguments similar to those spelled out in previous rulings, the Spanish judge is now suggesting that the mere existence of a pro-independence majority in the Catalan parliament that has not renounced its goal —even if a profound strategic change is being discussed— is reason enough to keep Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart, Oriol Junqueras and Joaquim Forn behind bars.

In a way, Pablo Llarena aims to blame the two million Catalans who long for a Republic for the fate of their leaders. Therefore, he seeks to punish the general public at large.

Given this new judicial outrage, you would think that Spain’s democrats might offer some sort of response, but everything indicates that nobody except Podemos will lift a finger to denounce it. Hopefully, it will be the European Court of Human Rights that —sooner or later— will put the Spanish democracy to shame. Meanwhile, its degradation is further intensified by the most reactionary, vociferous elements within Spanish nationalism, who aim to outdo each other.

Footnote:

1. In the mid-1980s ETA prisoner Juan Carlos Yoldi was elected to the Basque parliament. A Spanish court of law ruled that he should be allowed to stand for president and address the chamber during the debate, which he did. However, Yoldi had no chance of securing a parliamentary majority and being voted in.

Translation: Ara, slightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

 

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March 12: Xavier Domènech, candidate for general secretary of Podemos Catalonia and leader of CatECP in the Catalan parliament, produces a list for the Citizens Council (Podemos's Catalan regional executive) that includes representatives of the three major trends in Podemos in the Spanish state--followers of Pablo Iglesias, Iñigo Errejón and Anticapitalists--as well as candidates from all main tickets that contested previous leadership election in Catalonia, plus new faces.

 

March 12: (El Nacional) University of Barcelona Law dean denounces Spanish Treasury "witch hunt"

 

March 12: Girona Council reconfirms its ban on King Philip as persona non grata.

 

March 12: PSC issues a model motion to its councilors which demands that the political prisoners not be called such and that they be shifted to a jail in Catalonia. This in response to various PSC councilors, including Nuria Parlon, mayoress of Santa Colomer de Gramenet, supporting motions calling them political prisoners and demanding their release.

 

March 12: 70 to take part in ANC-organised hunger strike demanding the release of the political prisoners.

 

March 12: CatECP proposes to ERC and CUP that they propose a non-JxCat candidate for president in order to win CatECP support.

 

March 12: Barcelona court orders Barcelona Council to restore portrait of king to the council chamber.

 

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Week ending March 11

 

147 nights with political prisoners

 

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Main events, March 5-11

 

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March 11: Outgoing education minister Clara Ponsatí addresses demonstration in London (below).

 

Missing image: Ponsati address March 11 London demonstration.

 

March 11: Jordi Sànchez's defence team decides to withdraw appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in order to pursue appeal through the Spanish legal system first. Lodges appeal with the Supreme Court.

 

March 11: Two young gay men who were walking through Barcelona wearing the yellow ribbon of solidarity with the Catalan political prisoners denounce being bashed by a group of youths.

 

March 11: Xavier Domènech presents his candidacy as secretary general of Podemos Catalonia.

 

March 11: Jailed ERC leader Oriol Junqueras in interview in El Punt Avui demands that the CUP "be part of the solution and not of the problem".

 

March 11: PSC spokeperson Salvador Illa: "The personal egoism of Puigdemont and Comín has handed the CUP the key to the investiture."

 

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Missing image: March 11 ANC demonstration for "Republic Now!"

The March 11 demonstration for "Republic Now", called by the Catalan National Assembly, draws 45,000 (municipal police figure) to Barcelona's portside Passeig de Colom. Speakers are heroes and heroines of the October 1 referendum, who all end their contribution with the phrase: "I put myself on the line, I ask our political representatives to do the same."

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March 10: (El Nacional) Puigdemont moves to consolidate the JxCat group into a new political party

March 10: Catalan education minister Clara Ponsatí, exiled in Brussels, announces that she will return to her teaching position at Scotland's St Andrew's University and work to build support for Catalonia in the United Kingdom.

March 10: José Ignacio Llorens, PP MP for Lleida in the Spanish Congress, demands that Catalan firefighters who helped defend polling stations on October 1 formally apologise for their actions.

March 10: Òmnium Cultural AGM lays out a 2018 plan of work aimed at "favouring reconciliation" with sectors of Catalan society opposed to independence.

March 10: PSC leader Miquel Iceta says that the ECHR will reject Sànchez's appeal, and that the PSC will apply to the Constitutional Court for a ruling that the two-month countdown for investing another candidate for president begin immediately.

March 10: Ernest Urtasun (below), spokeperson of Initiative for Catalonia-Greens (ICV), component party of Catalonia Together, uses national conference address to call on pro-independence parties to form a government. He attacks the article 155 intervention and the "irresponsibility" of the October 27 unilateral declaration of indpendence.

Missing image: Ernest Urtasun addresses ICV National Caonference.

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March 9: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent postpones the investiture session set down for Monday.

March 9: Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó states that the decision of judge Llarena violate the basics of the rule of law and the rights of the two million-plus voters who supported JxCat on December 21. He invites citizens to send him complaints, and indicates he will be appealing against the decision to the European Commission, Council of Europe and the United Nations.

March 9: Jordi Sànchez's lawyers announce that they will appeal judge Pablo Llarena's decision preventing him from attending the Catalan parliament for Monday's investiture session to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The judge's written decision is conveyed to them at 1635, five minutes after the ECHR closed for the weekend.

March 9: The CUP maintains its position of abstention in the investiture, despite new proposals from JxCat and the ERC. Its Political Council will rediscuss the position on March 17, after meetings of its territorial assemblies.

March 9: English Football Association fines Pep Guardiola £20,000 for wearing yellow ribbon of solidarity with Catalan political prisoners.

March 9: (The Guardian) Jordi Cuixart: "As a political prisoner in Spain, I appreciate Pep Guardiola’s support"

March 9: Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena denies the request of the speaker of the Catalan parliament Roger Torrent for Jordi Sànchez to be released to attend investiture session set for Monday. The grounds are the risk of "reoffending" in crimes for which Sànchez is being investigated and has not yet been charged--sedition, rebellion and misuse of public moneys.

March 9: One day after the feminist general strike, an illegally taped private conversation by ERC leader Lluís Salvadó containing gross sexual references is leaked to the media.

March 9: Spanish government spokesperson Méndez de Vigo says that the article 155 intervention will allow the Spanish government to repay Catalan public servants the 20% of accumulated overtime pay still owed them from the wage cuts imposed during the economic crisis.

March 9: PP premier of Galicia, Alberto Nuñez-Feijóo, calls the Catalan independence process "a blow against European construction".

March 9: Barcelona mayoress (Catalonia Together) Ada Colau asserts in an interview with Catalonia Radio that the investiture of a Catalan president is not in the hands of her formation. "We said that we would not vote for the PDECat or Citizens. We do not support the policy of blocs and the citizens did not give us the support needed to win the elections. Those who presented themselves as a bloc are the ones who have to solve the problem. We will not vote for these two formations. We will not be accomplices to lining up one bloc against the other, but we will sit down to talk about action on measures that can be agreed. Catalonia needs a government to get out of 155 ... This is the responsibility of the pro-independence majority that won the elections. They are responsible for the unilateral declaration of independence. It is they who followed this course together and they who have to make a proposal for a way out."

March 9: Puigdemont in interview with El Punt Avui: "New elections would not be a drama even though it's not a priority anyone wants."

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Puigdemont's lawyer Ben Emmerson explains the international legal campaign to be mounted against the actions of the Spanish government in relation to Catalonia (starts at 9 minutes into video)

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March 8: Debate on Catalonia in the Belgian parliament, with Christian Democrat Vincent Van Peterghem suggesting that Puigdemont had better return to Spain and New Flemish Alliance MP Peter Luykx demanding dialogue between the Spanish and Catalan authorities. Foreign minister Didier Reynders says "we are monitoring the situation but without any interference from Belgium in the [Spanish] legal pocess or the political process of the Catalan parliament."

March 8: JxCat and ERC propose new basis for government agreement to the CUP, featuring a constitutional process within Catalonia to end in a popular consultation and a document.

March 8: Unprecedentedly massive demonstrations in Spanish State on International Women's Day. See Barcelona (below) and other coverage here.

Missing image: IWD 2018, Barcelona.

Missing image: 8 de marc Vaga Feminista Barcelona.

March 8: Catalan parliament speaker Torrent officially requests Supreme Court judge Llorena that Sànchez be released to attend next Monday's investiture session.

March 8: Feminist road block near Terrassa in support of women's strike (below)

Missing image: March 8 Terrassa, feminist road block.

March 8: Spanish Supreme Court refuses to re-admit debarred Catalan judge Santi Vidal to the judiciary because of "lack of loyalty to the institutions of the State and the Constitution".

March 8: Womens' strike, rally, St James Square, Barcelona (below)

Missing image: IWD feminist strike rally, St James Square, Barcelona.

March 7: (Spanish Senate). Motion by Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in favour of applicants for public service jobs knowing a minimum of the language of the region where they are applying is lost by 101 (PNV, PSOE, PDECat, EH Bildu, Unidos Podemos) to 150 (PP, Citizens, Union of the People of Navarra, Asturias Forum). Commitment, co-governing with the PSOE in the Valencian Country, abstains.)

March 7: Constitutional Court decides unanimously to reject Jordi Sànchez's appeal to be released from preventive detention. Leaves to Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena the decision as to whether he should be allowed to attend parliament on March 12 for his possible investiture as Catalan president.

March 7: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent addresses Circle of German-speaking Company Directors at Barcelona's spiffy Equestrian Circle. He is told by one attendant: "I would vote to send all you people to jail." The moderator apologises but insists that the Catalan government obey the law. See also (El Nacional) German business people, offended by Karl Jacobi's attitude.

March 7: Museum of Lleida, from which the artworks of the Sixena (Aragon) monastery were removed and returned to Sixena in December, hosts the exhibition "Political Prisoners in the Spanish State", banned by the Madrid exhibition of contemporary art.

March 7: Carles Puigdemont to write book tentatively entitled "Catalonia: What is at stake for Europe?", to appear in various languages in September.

March 7: Spanish Ministry of Finance demands financial records of Catalan businesses suspected of being paid by the Catalan Ministry of Finance for the preparation of the October 1 referendum. Companies affected include media empire Mediapro and the newspaper Ara.  (El Nacional) Spanish Treasury investigating Catalan government grants to media and individuals

March 7: Members of Spanish ultra-patriotic organisation Vox begin campaign of tearing down place names referring to the Catalan Republic.

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Background (Vilaweb, March 7)

The Catalan government in exile: what it will do and how it will operate

Catalonia’s institutions in exile have already got down to work at the so-called House of the Republic in Waterloo

puigdemontwaterloo-07160659.png

 

 

For the last ten days, any visitors that president Puigdemont used to meet in a Brussels hotel have been travelling to Waterloo instead. The famous house, which was supposed to become Puigdemont’s residence in Belgium, is located in Waterloo, a town within Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia. It is, indeed, the president’s new home. But it is also much more than that, as visitors soon realise, much to their surprise in some cases. The staff working there call it “the House of the Republic”. That is the first shock that visitors get on arrival.

 

Visitors in the last few days have included a string of Catalan mayors, reporters from several news outlets and countries, scientists, artists, members of parliament and no end of political representatives who watch with curiosity the new reality embodied by the Republican Council. At the end of last week, when Puigdemont announced that Jordi Sànchez was his candidate to become the new regional president back in Catalonia, he had stated that the time had come to start building in Belgium “the institutions of the Catalan Republic”, which was proclaimed on October 27. The first one such institution is its official seat. When visitors enter the premises, the initial surprise comes when they realise that it is not someone’s home, but a headquarters. As they travel from the entrance hall to the conference room on the first floor, they all notice people working behind a number desks, sometimes even the exiled ministers. You could refer to them as the first “civil servants” of the Catalan Republic, even though they are obviously not employed as such. Rather, they are staff on work contracts and they are putting together the projects which will give rise to the actual structure devised by Carles Puigdemont, his team and the members of his cabinet within six months after the declaration of independence, validated by the three pro-independence parties and the grassroots organisations back in Catalonia.

 

To enter the building, though, one first needs to get past the camera crews sent by the Spanish media who besiege it. Apparently, a good number of Spanish police officers and intelligence operatives have taken it upon themselves to get in the way of the House’s staff and gather any intelligence they can, not always by ordinary means.

 

A government in exile thanks to the Europe of liberties

 

The Catalan president has labelled this structure as “a government in exile”. But he has noted that it is not an exile in the traditional sense, thanks to the Europe of the liberties that has been built over the last decades. The six political leaders who reside abroad (Puigdemont, ministers Ponsatí, Serret, Comín and Puig, as well as CUP leader Anna Gabriel) are free citizens to all effects and purposes. Spain does not dare to demand that they be handed over because it realises that the request would be turned down as unbecoming of a democratic nation. The magnitude of the problem that Spain is facing became all too apparent when the European Arrest Warrant against the Catalan leaders was dropped. In the case of Anna Gabriel, who is exiled in Switzerland, the Spanish authorities have not even issued a warrant. Paradoxically, as a result of all that, any member of the Catalan government who remained in Spain is now behind bars (namely, vice president Junqueras and Joaquim Forn, the Minister of the Interior), whereas those who made use of their freedom to travel within Europe as EU nationals remain free and can build a government that will represent the legitimacy that stems from the Catalan elections and was interrupted by the coup d’état staged when direct rule was imposed by Madrid.

 

Therefore, in the so-called “free Brussels space” the incumbent president of the Generalitat and his government are ready to execute the structures —which they have devised and negotiated so far— without delay. The mission of the exiled government and parliament will be to keep the Spanish state on the ropes, legally and diplomatically, as well as try to lead the action of the pro-independence majority that cast their ballot in the referendum and the snap elections unlawfully called by Mariano Rajoy.

 

In an interview with The Guardian last Friday, Puigdemont said that the Republican Council was not a clandestine body and his cabinet preferred to work in a free space, without threats and fear, and that remaining in Belgium allowed them to act unencumbered by Spain’s police and justice system. He added that the Council should reflect Catalonia’s diversity and that is why “local communities and associations will be represented, too”. Puigdemont also repeated the motto that has been at the core of his thinking in the last months: “we must transition from the old notion of a government for the people to a government by the people”. That is why preparations in the Republican House have much to do with new technology and the example of Estonia. This Baltic republic has set up a virtual environment that would allow it to operate like an independent country in the event of a Russian invasion. It is a project that has been studied by the Generalitat for some time and will become a model for the Catalan government in exile.

 

In principle, the design that will be put into practice in the coming days involves setting up two institutions: the Republican Council and the Congress of Representatives. The former will be the government in exile and the political parties have agreed that it should consist of five members, two from Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana, plus one from the CUP. The Council is to meet weekly and liaise politically with the Generalitat government back in Barcelona, which will formally recognise the leading role of the Republican Council as the policy-setting body, assuming an agreement for a coalition government is reached by the pro-independence parties in Barcelona.

 

As for the Congress of Representatives, it will be the equivalent of a parliament in exile and, as is to be expected, it will be tasked with overseeing the executive branch. The Congress of Representatives will include MPs from the pro-independence majority in the Barcelona chamber who will be joined by representatives of local governments and other institutions, with a view to forming a highly-representative national body. The Congress and the Council will both meet in Brussels as a general rule, but the former might hold meetings in Catalonia, too, which would be another headache for the Spanish institutions.

 

Private bodies to avoid the Spanish state’s trap

 

Formally both institutions will be private in nature so as to avoid becoming entangled in the legal net that Spain is aiming to cast. Their public actions will be covered by the Generalitat itself, which will endorse the Council’s decisions to the extent that this is legally possible. However, the Council will elude Spain’s crackdown and take on tasks that would otherwise be impossible, such as re-opening Catalan representation offices abroad. Following Madrid’s direct rule, it is clear that the Spanish government will not lift the ban on those offices, but the free space in Brussels will be able to activate them nearly with the same format as they had until they were shut down by the Spanish authorities.

 

Brussels will also steer the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic based on a broad-based discussion at grassroots level, which will draw on experiences such as Iceland’s. Once again, being a private entity will allow the Catalan government in exile to take on jobs that the repression by Spain’s courts of law —under Rajoy’s orders— would otherwise make impossible.

 

On this point, the connection between the Republican Council, the regional government in Barcelona and the two million separatist voters will lead to the constant querying of Spain’s power in Catalonia. The Council and the Congress will encourage alternatives to allow the Catalan people, for instance, to avoid keeping their savings in banks that cooperate with the Spanish repression, which is nearly unavoidable at present. Likewise, they will foster an electronic form of democracy that, for example, will allow the Generalitat to hold online consultations outside of Spain’s legal framework. As a matter of fact, the concept goes beyond what has been traditionally known as electronic democracy and will enter the domain of “active” democracy based on the principles outlined by Puigdemont in his interview with The Guardian.

 

The exiled government, then, will also be privately funded and will be backed through a totally transparent fund open to the people’s participation. Anyone will be allowed to contribute to the coffers of these institutions, which do not expect to require a large number of staff. Their day-to-day affairs will be handled by the Generalitat in Barcelona and the government in exile will focus on any projects which the Spanish government might not allow the regional government to embark on, particularly from a legal standpoint and in terms of seeking support for the Catalan cause abroad.

 

A very hot potato for the EU, too

 

On the surface, the birth of the Catalan government in exile has been snubbed by the Spanish authorities, but the reaction and the violent attacks which it has elicited are indicative of Madrid’s serious concern on this matter.

 

In fact, over the last weeks the temperature of Madrid’s open conflicts with several EU partners has risen a notch. Spanish government sources have even hinted that they might go as far as breaking diplomatic relations with Belgium, an unprecedented threat. Spain’s Foreign Minister Dastis referred to Switzerland in the same terms as Anna Gabriel when she announced her decision to stay there. Finland’s consul to Barcelona saw his diplomatic credentials removed last week and his was the fourth on the list of incidents involving Barcelona-based consuls as a result of Spain’s feud with Catalonia. Except on this occasion the decision has been rebuffed by the entire consular body in Barcelona, as well as Finland’s embassy in Madrid. The matter has been debated in the Finnish parliament and its government is now expected to provide an explanation.

 

Spain’s rattled nerves reveal a growing realisation that the legal action undertaken against the Catalan government was a mistake that will have catastrophic consequences. It violates every principle of the separation of powers and the right to a fair trial. Besides, jailing members of a government and creating a new one in exile within the EU causes a major problem of definition in the EU itself. As it is, the European Union is already struggling to explain how come Hungary —and especially Poland— are implementing policies which infringe upon the most basic democratic principles and violate European laws. The situation is further compounded when that happens not just in the former eastern bloc, but in a western country, Spain, which behaves with the utmost contempt for the separation of powers and civil rights. When the EU gave Spain its consent to impose a  no-holds-barred form of direct rule on Catalonia via Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, it allowed a regression of liberties not just in Catalonia but in Spain as a whole and the resulting scandals are increasingly harder to conceal. The whole world heard about Madrid’s ARCO exhibition banning a number of works about Catalonia’s political prisoners, as well as the prison sentences imposed on two musicians, Valtònyc and Pablo Hassel, for writing critical songs and posts on Twitter.

 

For the first time ever, last week president Puigdemont admitted that he had made a mistake on October 10 when he agreed to suspend the declaration of independence after Donald Tusk’s public request. The Catalan government expected the gesture to prompt a reaction in Europe to help to find a political solution for such an obvious constitutional problem in Spain. In fact, what happened was quite the opposite, although the Catalan government is quick to point out that there is more to Europe than the European Commission and emphasises the sympathy and support from countries like Belgium, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland and Latvia, which has allowed the exiled government to realise that Europe and the space of freedom it has created are the solution to the political conflict, even if some of today’s political leaders in Europe are unable to appreciate that.

 

Therefore, taking every opportunity to show that Spain’s behaviour is entirely incompatible with Europe’s democratic standards is key to the exiled government’s strategy: to get to a point where the cost of justifying Spain’s totalitarian arbitrariness is no longer acceptable to Europe. And this can be more easily achieved from a house only sixteen kilometres from Brussels than from Barcelona, a city that is being subjected to constant, indiscriminate repression.

 

Translation: Vilaweb

 

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March 6: JxCat announces that it will lodge a formal legal complaint if Supreme Court judge Llarena rules against Jordi Sànchez attending the March 12 investiture session of the Catalan parliament.

 

March 6: Citizens demands that exiled MPs Puigdemont and Comin cease to receive their parliamentary salary.

 

March 6: National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) declares its investigation of former Catalan police chief Josep Lluís Trapero "complex", thereby allowing it to continue for up to 18 months (and any suspect placed in preventive detention liable to be kept in prison for that time).

 

March 5: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent nominates imprisoned former ANC president and JxCat number two Jordi Sànchez as president of the Catalan government. ERC reaches agreement with JxCat to support Sànchez as president.

 

March 5: Manchester City trainer Pep Guardiola accepts fine from the Football Association for wearing the yellow ribbon of solidarity with Catalan political prisoners. He does not apologise.

 

March 5: (El Nacional) 'El Mundo' tells tales, trying to humiliate Catalan prisoner Jordi Sànchez

 

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Comment (Vicenç Villatoro, Ara, March 2)

 

Vote and let vote

 

Missing image: Vicenc Villatoro

 

Villatoro: Unionists aren’t obliged to welcome Sànchez’s nomination, but have a moral obligation to accept it

 

Ciudadanos, the PP and the PSC wouldn’t want Jordi Sànchez to be the president of the Catalan government. They believe that choosing him makes no sense, that it’s a mistake, an inconvenient decision. They have every right to feel that way. Logically, therefore, if Sànchez’s nomination is presented to Parliament, they will vote against it. What wouldn’t be logical —and what they have no right to do— is to try and prevent those who support him from voting in his favour, which may well be the majority of MPs.

 

The unionists aren’t obliged to welcome Sànchez’s nomination. They have every right to criticize the decision and oppose it with their arguments. But in a democracy, they have a moral obligation to accept it, if he has the majority in his favour. To use subterfuge to prevent a member of the public with all their political rights intact, including the right to vote and to be elected, from being chosen if it is the majority will, flies in the face of democracy. It has already happened with President Puigdemont, with the excuse that he was abroad.

The unionists seem set to make the same serious mistake again, in an echo of what has been their original sin throughout this process: denying their opponents the right to vote for what they believe in. Everyone has the right to vote according to their convictions. What they don’t have the right to do is to deny us the possibility of voting according to our own convictions or to deny the value of our vote.
Translation: Ara

 

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Week ending March 4

 

139 nights with political prisoners

 

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Photo of the week

 

Missing image: Statue of slave trader Anotnio Lopez removed from Barcelon square.

 

March 4: On orders of Barcelona Council, this statue of slave-trader and "eminent citizen" Antonio Lopez was removed today while a popular festival took place in the surounding square. A former version of the statue, in bronze, was removed and melted down during the Second Republic (1931-39), to be replaced by this stone statue under the Franco dictatorship.

 

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Main events, February 26-March 4

 

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March 4: 15,000 Spanish unionists march in central Barcelona in support of "Tabarnia" (Tarragona plus Barcelona, a mythical construct of those municipalities where the vote for pro-independence parties fell short of 50% on December 21).

 

March 4: Vidal Aragonès (CUP MP): "Repeating elections is not the worst alternative." Aragonés also points out that a majority for the JxCat-ERC proposal can be achieved if the speakership panel recognises the votes of exiled MPs Puigdemont and Comín and that decision is supported by a majority of parliament.

 

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Comment (Viçent Partal, Vilaweb)

 

Stop this sad investiture spectacle

 

March 4

 

The more it goes on the more toxic the investiture of whoever has to be the President of the autonomous community¹ of Catalonia becomes. With the result of the December 21 elections in hand everything seemed clear and more or less simple. The result of the October 1 referendum and the October 27 proclamation of the Republic had been ratified. Article 155 had been defeated. The citizens had shown that they knew how to withstand the pressure of the Spanish state and had decided that the illegitimately sacked government had to come back. It became clear that President Puigdemont had the votes needed to continue as president. It was also obvious that the three pro-independence parties had to agree to move forward together.

On December 21, at the polls, we citizens did the work we had to do. Just as we had done at the October 1 referendum. Now it was up to the politicians to play their part. But the reality is that two long months have passed since that day and not only is there no government, there is also a great deal of disquiet. On January 30, the inauguration of Puigdemont was ready and agreed to by all three parties, with a program that included starting the constituent process and the building from Brussels of republican institutions, for the Spanish state a scenario of struggle and confrontation. But the speaker of the parliament [Roger Torrent] decided to stop that investiture a few hours before it was due and from then on we have taken two steps back for every one forward.

 

At this point, it seems clear that the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) does not want to invest President Puigdemont. And since that has become clear, and given that without ERC no investiture is possible, Puigdemont has given way. He has done so making it understood that without Together for Catalonia (JxCat) there is no possible investiture either and has proposed that Jordi Sànchez² be invested. ERC did not accept this at first, but then they did, but before that it was the People's Unity List (CUP) that said no, which once again made agreement impossible. Because without the CUP the thing can’t be done either.

The reaction of many people to this enormous mess has been disappointment and fatigue. I completely understand that. There are people who have reacted by openly speaking of traitors and similar things. I can’t and won’t share that response; it seems to me dangerous nonsense and an outlook that must be avoided. Finally, there are those who have invoked in an abstract way the need for unity, desirable and desired by all, but it is already clear this unity doesn’t exist and that no one can impose it by themselves. You can’t ask for unity if you only want it on your own terms. That’s not serious.

I think we shouldn’t get ourselves trapped in this game of fixed and limited choices. In this sense, I also have the impression that we can also lose ourselves in the fight over names. And that the battle for the presidency should not conceal the fundamental issue. I believe I understood that the CUP yesterday [March 3] did not reject Jordi Sànchez on the basis of personality or history, but because the program for his investiture and for the government that was to be formed would be one that actually accepts the article 155 intervention and limits its mental horizon to that of a regional government in the Spanish state. That, in any case, is reflected in the name of the candidate. Indeed, if the Spanish state does not want in any way that Puigdemont be president, accepting in the end that he cannot be invested is to accept that who is in charge is Spain and not the voters. Which is what the CUP does not want. And I honestly think that no-one can find that strange or incoherent. The question now is: what should and can be done?

It seems to me that yesterday’s decision by the CUP should give the opportunity to all three pro-independence parties to return to the situation before speaker Torrent stopped the inauguration of President Puigdemont. An agreement, signed and sealed, existed that since then has been unable to be reached by any other route or with any other combination. If the parties were in agreement and the speaker of the parliament stopped it, perhaps the best solution right now would be that Torrent accept the initial deal. Especially after having verified that choosing a different candidate does not solve the institutional deadlock.

And if this is not the case, then we will have to calmly take on board that that an agreement between all three groups is perhaps impossible, that it is just not feasible. And we shall then have to entertain the thought that there could be new elections, something that need not necessarily be bad. The people decided how they wanted this government to be, but if the politicians don’t know how to make it happen, the most reasonable road forward is to allow the people, once again, to lead the way. One of the problems, the big problem in fact, of representative democracy is that the parties, once they‘ve got the votes in the bag, do what they want without the voters having the right to correct them. And I have an intuition that the vote today would be different from the vote in December. Perhaps, therefore, the way to stop this unfortunate investiture spectacle is to go back to scratch, namely to the decision of the people, of each and every one of us.

 

Since October, many things have happened and we have seen politicians react in a variety of ways. But it’s been since December 21 that we have also seen the politicians react very differently, some of them in frankly surprising ways. It is obvious that the promises of the election campaign have not been fulfilled, and that is why a new vote might clarify the picture and would be a great help in facing the new political phase. If with the present configuration of the pro-independence bloc the way to form government can’t be found, let the people decide on another configuration. Or let them repeat the current one, which would send a strong message to the parties that they have to negotiate seriously. And in any case, let the people respond to the great background debate that is masked by the negotiations: do we need to move straight to building the republic or if it is necessary to first look to build whatever can be managed in the framework of regional government, accepting, therefore, the rules imposed by the coup d'etat? Because at the time of voting on December 21 nobody put this debate on the table and in the end it is more important and decisive than the names of presidents or the investiture process itself.

 

Two notes to finish on:

 

1) Whatever happens, I think it should not affect the formation of the Council of the Republic, an organism that is called upon to be more prominent in political terms than the government itself.

 

2) On Sunday, March 11, at the demonstration called by the ANC, all of us will have a clear opportunity to tell all three parties what we think and what we want.

 

Footnotes:

 

1. "Autonomous community" is the official title for the regional governments in the Spanish state.

 

2. Former president of the Catalan National Congess (ANC), number two to Puigdemont on the JxCat ticket.

 

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March 3: The CUP decides not to support the agreement for government between JxCat and the ERC, but to abstain on the vote. This leaves the JxCat and ERC proposal two votes short of a 66-65 majority over the unionist parties plus CatECP (which had said it will vote against the proposal for a government headed by Jordi Sànchez). 

 

March 3: PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez: "An unviable candidate like Puigdemont cannot be followed by another like Sànchez."

 

March 2: Rafael Ribó, the Catalan Ombudsman, leads Catalan human rights organisation in demanding a proper investigation of Spanish police action on October 1.

 

March 2: (Interview in the Guardian ) Puigdemont vows to lead Catalan government in exile.

 

March 2: ANC launches campaign for its March 11 demonstration calling for the incoming Catalan government to "build the Republic now" (poster below).

 

Missing image: ANC March 11 "Republic Now!" Demonstration poster.

 

March 2: Puigdemont legal team, led by Ben Emmerson, launches campaign against Spanish government with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. See full text of complaint here.

 

March 2: (El Nacional) Spain asks Peru to explain its support for dismissed Finnish consul

 

March 2: Puigdemont explains his perspectives in this video in English.

 

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Comment (Javier Pérez Royo)

 

The moment of truth

 

Now the investiture of the Catalan President is dependent on Spain’s Supreme Court

 

Javier Pérez Royo, Professor of Constitutional Law,

 

March 1, 2018

 

Ever since the results of the December 21st elections came out, it became apparent that the moment of truth would come with the investiture of the President of the Generalitat. The election of a president was already extremely complicated in the previous term, and a repetition of the elections was only avoided when Artur Mas stepped aside. This time, the operation is much more complicated, as now the investiture is not dependent on the position of one of the political forces, the CUP, but rather on Spain’s Supreme Court's intervention in the process, as confirmed recently by the Constitutional Court.

The pro-independence bloc, which won the elections in the parliamentary sense but not in the sense of a plebiscite --to use the terminology that they themselves put into circulation--, finds itself faced with the dilemma of either proposing a candidate that the Supreme Court will have no objection to or, rather, proposing one that not only is being investigated but is also subject to the most serious cautionary measure provided for in the legislation: unconditional provisional imprisonment.

The first option would have a certain advantage. It would immediately lift Madrid’s direct rule, it would restore the exercise of autonomy under the terms laid out in the Constitution and Statute of Autonomy, and the President of the Generalitat would be able to politically direct the autonomous community. It would be the option most consistent with the principle of legality. Nevertheless, it would also have the no-less certain disadvantage that the citizens would not be the ones who, through their voting rights, had chosen the president, but rather the Supreme Court that had decided the investiture, albeit negatively. From the perspective of democratic legitimacy, it is a much less coherent option. We would once again find ourselves faced with the tension between legality and legitimacy that has shadowed the entire course of the Catalan independence process. The Spanish government maintains that legitimacy and legality coincide in a democracy. The pro-independence movement believes that the right to autonomy cannot be exercised in accordance with a Statute that was not what the people approved in referendum, but rather that which was imposed by the State via the Constitutional Court as a result of an appeal by the PP. The exercise of the right to self-rule requires that the principal legislation, the Catalan Statute, be a law in which the people have had the final word. This is an unavoidable condition of the principle of democratic legitimacy. With the current Statute, this is not the case.

A complaint for neglect of duty

The response to this logic of democratic legitimacy is the proposal to name Jordi Sànchez* as candidate for president. It is about keeping alive the tension between legality and legitimacy, which will put the Supreme Court in a very awkward position. If the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, after a round of talks, proposes Jordi Sànchez as candidate, the Court cannot block him from attending Parliament to present his platform for governance and seeking the support of the chamber. Sànchez still has the right to passive suffrage, and this right cannot be ignored by the Court. In fact, Pablo Llarena would be committing a crime of wilful neglect of duty and Sànchez would be able to file a complaint against him.

If Sànchez is the candidate, he will be voted president and the presiding judge will then have to decide whether to keep a President of the Generalitat in provisional custody. In my view, if this were to happen, an appeal could immediately be lodged with the Constitutional Court, requesting a provisional suspension of the measure. And in the case that the high court did not agree to process the appeal, it is my understanding that he could turn to the European Court of Human Rights. And if Sànchez isn't kept in provisional custody, what about the other pro-independence politicians subject to this precautionary measure?

The judicialization of a problem as intrinsically political as that of the integration of Catalonia within Spain not only resolves nothing, but rather will make everything more difficult. To attempt to have a court of law resolve what it can never resolve will lead nowhere but to catastrophe.
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*Jordi Sànchez is a political activist and President of the Catalan National Assembly. He is currently being held in prison without bail, accused by Spanish authorities of sedition for organising the September 20, 2017 protests and for preparations for the October 1st referendum

Translation: Ara

 

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March 1: Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria: "We will not allow the formation of parallel structures."

 

March 1: Reaction of Spanish prime minister's office: "After a month and a half Puigdemont realises that he will not be president of the Generalitat, something which would not have been possible without the determination of the [Spanish] government to use all means at its disposal to stop this mockery of prevailing law."

 

March 1: Carles Puigdemont announces that he is withdrawing his candidacy for president, and that his substitute will be Jordi Sànchez.  Puigdemont will be the head of the Council of the Republic, based in Brussels.

 

March 1: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, in charge of investigations into the October 1 referendum has declared the case officially "complex", in this way extending the time for reaching a decision on possible charges from six months to 18 months. The Catalan political prisoners detained could therefore spend this extended time in prison before being charged.

 

March 1: Catalan parliament adopts resolution affirming the legitimacy of Carles Puigdemont as president and condemning the Spanish government's suspension of Catalan self-rule under article 155 of the Spanish Constitution (text and vote below). The resolution was discussed and voted despite filibustering attempts by Citizens to convince the chamber that it would be unconstitutional because of the amendments proposed by the CUP, some of which are incorporated in the final form of the resolution below..

 

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Catalan Parliament, March 1

 

Text and vote on resolution on the restoration of Catalan institutions

 

Moved: Together for Catalonia

 

NOTES:
1. Citizens (Cs) and the People's Party of Catalonia (PPC) regarded the whole resolution as unconstitutional, and did not take part in the vote. Citizens said it would launch a appeal against the resolution in the Spanish Constitutional Court.
2. PSC-Units is the electoral alliance between the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC) and United to Advance, formerly members of the defunct christian democrat Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). PSC-Units did not vote on paragraph 6b of the resolution, regarding it as unconstitutional.
3. The 135-seat Catalan Parliament is made up as follows: Citizens 36, Together for Catalonia (JxCat) 34, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 32. PSC-Units 17, Catalona Together-Podemos (CatECP) 8, People's Unity List (CUP) 4, PPC 4

 

The Parliament of Catalonia:
1. Reaffirms that it represents the people of Catalonia and is the expression of their will. (ORIGINAL TEXT)
Approved: 76 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC, CatECP and CUP) and 17 against (PSC-Units). Cs and PPC did not vote

 

2a. Notes that the elections of December 21 returned a majority favorable to pro-independence forces, that is, to the political formations favouring government action for a Republic and the constitution of Catalonia as an independent state in the form of a Republic. (TEXT AMENDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH AMENDMENT 4 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 68 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC and CUP) and 25 against (PSC-Units and CatECP) and 1 abstention (1 PPC deputy). Cs and three PPC deputies did not vote.

 

2b. Stresses that Members of Parliament enjoy the prerogatives of parliamentary inviolability and immunity which must guarantee, in turn, the free establishment of the will of the Chamber and the maintenance of the composition given it by the people's will. (TEXT AMENDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH  AMENDMENT 4 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 76 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC, CatECP and CUP) and 17 against (PSC-Units). Cs and PPC did not vote.

 

3. Manifests its absolute rejection of the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution agreed by the [October 27] Senate Plenary and the government of Spain, along with its effects on Catalan democratic institutions, which has violated the basic rights of the Catalans, restricted the sovereign powers of their legitimate institutions and dismissed their democratically elected representatives. It therefore demands an immediate end to its application. (ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENT 5 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 77 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC, CatECP, CUP and 1 deputy of the PSC-Units) and 16 against (PSC-Units). Cs and PPC did not vote.

 

4a. Denounces the authoritarian and undemocratic  evolution of Spain, evident from improprieties committed within the executive and judicial spheres, for example:
- The fact that the Minister of Justice in a flagrant violation of the separation of powers outlined with total certainty the future course of legal proceedings against persons under investigation, most specifically Members of Parliament, and anticipated the dates and content of the charges they would face;
- Pressure and interference from the Spanish executive against the Constitutional Court while in the midst of its process of deliberation on the admissibility of an appeal brought by the Spanish government itself against a resolution of the speaker of this Parliament. These pressures ended up being reflected in the final terms of the Constitutional Court's judgment in an action unprecedented in constitutional law;
- In legal rulings that keep four citizens in preventive detention. The legitimate and democratic ideological choices pointed to in these rulings are today represented by at least 70 deputies in this chamber.
- In impeding the members of this chamber from fully performing their rights and duties as elected members of this Parliament. (TEXT AMENDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH AMENDMENT 6 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 76 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC, CatECP and CUP) and 17 against (PSC-Units). Cs i PPC did not vote.

 

4b. Denounces the widespread repression of the Spanish State against the Catalan Republican movement, which operates against Catalonia through the legal witchhunt¹ that the powers of the state have initiated, violating the civil and political rights of the citizens and their legitimate representatives, with the consequence of jail, exile and all kinds of unjust and undemocratic criminal measures. (ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENT 7 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 68 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC and CUP), 17 against (PSC-Units) and 8 abstentions (CatECP). Cs and PPC did not vote.

 

5. Denounces the illegal and illegitimate destitution of the President of Catalonia and his government, repository of the will of the people of Catalonia, through the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and proclaims its will and determination to restore the institution of the Presidency of the Generalitat [Government] of Catalonia. (ORIGINAL TEXT)
Approved: 68 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC and CUP), 25 against (PSC-Units and CatECP). Cs and PPC did not vote.

 

6. Notes that the Most Honourable President Carles Puigdemont i Casamajo:
- was elected by an absolute majority of the Parliament of Catalonia on January 10, 2016 and won a motion of confidence on September 29, 2016;
- Has achieved the support necessary, on the basis of the result of the elections of December 21, 2017 (which created a pro-independence majority in this chamber), to be the Parliament's legitimate candidate for the presidency of the Government in this legislature;
- Continues to enjoy a sufficient parliamentary majority, won at the ballot box and reconfirmed on December 21, for confidence in him as President to be ratified.
Approved:  67 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC and CUP), 24 against (PSC-Units and CatECP). Cs and PPC did not vote.

 

6b. Demands an end to the interference of the government of the State in the lower level courts and the Constitutional Court, which seeks to prevent the realisation of this democratic will of the representatives of the people of Catalonia, as well as that which was legitimately expressed in the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia on October 1.
-Establishes that this Parliament and its Presidency immediately activates all the appropriate instruments and procedures needed to guarantee the unrestricted civil and political rights of all its elected representatives and to restore all of its Institutions, starting with its Presidency, as well as its powers to legislate and govern in support of the social, civil and political rights of all Catalans without exception, building a new, just, inclusive and solidarity-based country for everyone, such as via the restitution of the content of the laws and social and environmental decrees approved by this Chamber in the last parliamentary term and suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court. (TEXT AMENDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH AMENDMENTS 9 AND 10 OF THE CUP)
Approved: 68 votes in favor (JxCat, ERC and CUP), 8 against (CatECP). Cs, PSC-Units and  PPC did not vote.

This text is pending review and correction. The official text of the resolution approved will be the one that will be published in the Official Bulletin of the Parliament of Catalonia

 

Footnotes:
1. The phrase "legal witchhunt" is used here to translate Causa General, a reference to the massive and sustained crusade of legal persecution applied by the Franco dictatorship to its defeated opponents after the Spanish Civil War.

 

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February 28: Four exiled Catalan ministers take part in Brussels demonstration demanding release of Catalan political prisoners.

 

February 28: Xàvier Domènech, leader of Catalonia Together-Podemos in the Catalan parliament, to stand for the position of general secretary of Podemos Catalonia, left vacant after the previous leadership of Albano Dante Fachin lost a membership referendum, imposed by the leadership of Podemos in the Spanish State, on participation with Catalonia Together in an electoral alliance for the December 21 Catalan elections.

February 28: Catalan PP leader Xàvier García Albiol says that if Jordi Sànchez is elected Catalan president, the article 155 intervention should continue in a more draconian form.

February 28: Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català says that the Spanish government will appeal to the Copnstitutional Court any resolution of the Catalan parliament that it considers unconstitutional.

February 28: Català  says yellow ribbons should be removed from public buildings in Catalonia: "There are no political prisoners no matter how much a few people insist otherwise and these symbols should not be on buildings that belong to everyone."

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Over 600 jurists denounce violation of human rights in Catalonia before Council of Europe

The Prague Collective, made up of law professors from Catalan universities, reports 9 violations

The Prague Collective, an association of law professors from Catalan universities, has filed a complaint with the Council of Europe signed by 650 jurists for violation of human rights. The complaint refers to events surrounding the October 1st referendum that, according to the experts, violate the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950.

"Instead of choosing dialogue to solve a political conflict, Spain opted for political repression and the institution of criminal charges, which resulted in serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It pressed unsustainable charges of rebellion and sedition against the leaders of the two main civil organisations who had been mainly responsible for what was a peaceful and democratic process. It also prosecuted the Catalan President, the Catalan Vice- President and various Ministers of the Catalan Government. Some of those charged are in pre-trial detention, others have fled into exile. Spain has also de facto stripped Catalonia of its powers through the unconstitutional application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.", said the report published by the jurists, which mentions a "breakdown of democratic values and rule of law in Spain".

In the 50 page report, the legal experts opine that "there is sufficient evidence for the Commissioner for Human Rights to begin an independent and full investigation into the possible violations of rights” and they list several areas in which they believe that these violations have occurred:

* Rights of freedom of expression and assembly
* Prohibition of “degrading treatment”
* Right to vote, to stand for election, and to not be discriminated against for political opinions
* Right to freedom
* Right to an independent and impartial court
* Principle of penal legality
* Right to due process with full guarantees
* Right to to a second trial in the penal framework
* Right to defence preparation

All of these rights are recognized and protected by the European Convention and its protocols.
The Council of Europe is an advisory body, which has already taken a position in favor of a negotiated solution to the conflict between Catalonia and Spain.

Translation: Ara

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February 27: Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena "would be perverting the course of justice if he prevents Jordi Sànchez from being invested as president of Catalonia." (Spanish constitutionalist Javier Pérez Rojo)

February 27: The Council of Europe cites Xàvier García Albiol, PP leader in the Catalan parliament and former mayor of Badalona, as an example of racism and xenophobia in the Spanish state.

 

February 27: CUP spokeperson Carles Riera: "We are a long way from an agreement [with JxCat and the ERC]."For the CUP it is indispensable that the constituent process takes form here, in the territory of Catalonia. That everyone can take part in the debate about what country we want to create for the future. It has to be a binding process, that from this legislature must conclude with our proposal for a multi-referendum so as to open the way to the following phases."

 

February 27: Main points of agreement reached between JxCat and the ERC:

 

• The Catalan parliament will vote recognition of Puigdemont as Catalonia’s legitimate president, reconfirm  the October 27 declaration of independence--on the insistence of the CUP--and demand the lifting of article 155;

• An Assembly of the Republic, made up of representatives of Catalan local government and civil society, will be set up in a “Free Space in Brussels”, along with an executive Council of the Republic, headed by Puigdemont; and

• A government will be set up in Catalonia, with 14 ministries equally divided between JxCat and ERC. The candidate for president will be detained former ANC president Jordi Sànchez. If Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, responsible for Sànchez’s detention, does not allow him to leave jail for the investiture session, this ruling will be appealed all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. JxCat leader Jordi Turull would be candidate for president in the meantime.

 

February 27: Madrid daily La Razón reports that Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena will not allow elected JxCat MP Jordi Sánchez to leave jail if he is proposed as president of the incoming Catalan government.

 

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Comment (Vicent Partal, VilaWeb)

 

A king humiliated by a worthy nation

 

Missing image: Vincent Partal

 

Vicent Partal: "Above all, a monarchy is a spectacle. But yesterday King Felipe was unable to show that at all. Quite the opposite"

 

A monarchy is, above all, a spectacle. Its role —as with any other role within the public sphere— relies on appearances. That is why all monarchies always surround themselves with the sort of pomp that aims to elevate the monarch above the general public. Unless the monarch is seen by their subjects as different and superior, people begin to wonder what purpose he serves. And when people begin to ask themselves why they need a king, a monarchy is doomed. Nowadays there are only seventeen monarchies in the world, eighteen if you include the Catholic Pope, the only elected king in the world. At present the extinction of the monarchical institution only seems a matter of time. More so when the king is a controversial figure.

 

Yesterday King Felipe got the response he deserved from the Catalan public and the nation’s institutions. He had to enter Barcelona’s Palau de la Música [the chosen venue for the Mobile World Congress (MWC) gala dinner] without any pomp and almost incognito, with riot police occupying Via Laietana and struggling to contain the city’s noisy protest. In nearby roads, thousands of citizens endured blows and violence from the Catalan police, as well as provocations from royalists, all to ensure that the Spanish king would fully grasp the animosity that he elicits in Catalonia. Local authorities were absent from the gala dinner and most skipped the official reception, which humiliated him in front of the MWC's businesspeople and entrepreneurs. The Speaker of the Catalan parliament, the mayoress of Barcelona and the representatives of the Catalan government all declined the invitation to attend the event. The king had much to explain, particularly when the noisy protests and republican anthems were clearly audible from inside the Palau de la Música, a musical institution whose choir had voiced their discontent over the king’s presence and had publicly asked that he be denied access to the venue. At 9 pm tens of thousands of MWC participants across Barcelona heard the deafening banging of pots and pans. Earlier that day, they had been greeted at Barcelona airport by activists wearing yellow ribbons and holding banners [to raise awareness of the political situation in Catalonia].

 

All in all, the Bourbon king received the response that he deserved from Catalonia, a worthy nation that has proven to him that it will neither surrender nor bend the knee, a nation that remembers the king’s sickening call to violence on TV on October 3. That speech might actually cost him the crown which he inherited from his father, the successor chosen by General Franco.

 

Above all, a monarchy is a spectacle. But yesterday King Felipe was unable to show that off at all. Quite the opposite. In the street outside, it became apparent that now he can only visit Catalonia when protected by a massive display of violence. Once inside the Palau de la Música, he busied himself trying to conceal his irritation and displeasure at the noise coming from outside rather than trying to present himself to the world as the modern, democratic monarch that he pretends to be. Sitting opposite him, Speaker Roger Torrent wore a yellow ribbon on his lapel and didn’t even bother to applaud the king’s speech out of courtesy. Politically speaking, the king of Spain and the Spanish government were defeated and humiliated in a context that must be understood. When the Spanish authorities staged a coup against Catalonia on September 20 and imposed direct rule on October 28, few people thought that Catalans would hold their ground and counterattack to this extent.

 

Yesterday it became apparent that the republican movement is on the rise and has overcome the bewilderment that overwhelmed it after the Catalan government surrendered the administration when direct rule was imposed. Furthermore, it is equally obvious that Spain has a colossal problem. The last time that King Felipe had the courage to visit Catalonia was to take part in the march following the jihadist attacks in August. During the demonstration, he had to hear some comments that he was not used to hearing. Once again, yesterday he received a welcome that no monarch, including him, would ever wish to have. Not even the provocation staged by a tiny group of royalists saved the day. The scared, regional Catalonia which they were hoping to bring back through the use of force, violence, prison and exile has failed to replace the republican Catalonia and is nowhere to be seen. The coming weeks will see a new government in Catalonia, the institutional integration between the regional government and the republic, plus a demonstration on March 11 [called on February 25 by the Catalan National Assembly]. Things will likely take a further turn for the better and there will be new opportunities to finish off the job, one that only got halfway done in October. For now, though, you can smile again: King Felipe will not forget Sunday in Barcelona any time soon.

 

Translation: VilaWeb with some slight amendments by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

 

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February 26: European Commission vice-president Frans Timmerman tells a conference in Louvain that "Catalonia is not an affair of the European Union while basic rights are not being violated."·

 

February 26: Albert Ginjaume, the honorary Finnish consul and president of the Barcelona consular corps whose sacking by Finland was forced by the Spanish government, tells Catalan public TV3 that the Spanish state is nervous of foreign governments being influenced any version of events in Catalonia different to its own: "If the [independence] Process has not been successful  it is because it hasn't had support from outside Spain. Spain knows that and keeps a close eye on it. That's why they are afraid of any step by a consul that could influence any other consul, and they chop his or her head off."

 

February 26: In the wake of the Barcelona demonstrations against King Felipe's presence there for the Mobile World Congress, The Times writes editorial calling for negotiations between the Rajoy government and Catalonia (below).

 

Royalpolitik

Spain should stop hounding Catalan separatists and negotiate in the national interest

King Felipe of Spain will today visit an unhappy corner of his realm, the region of Catalonia. Having voted for unilateral independence in a referendum last October and again for a slight parliamentary majority in favour of separation in December, Catalonia still inhabits a political limbo. It is ruled without concession from Madrid and its ousted president, Carles Puigdemont, lives in exile in Belgium while other members of his former administration are behind bars.

 

Spain’s calculation is that Mr Puigdemont’s nerve will crack and that he will formally step down, allowing a regional Catalan government to take shape. It is gambling that the oxygen will be squeezed out of the separatist cause. Opinion polls suggest that might yet happen. Catalans are tired of the politicisation of everyday life and are nervous that investors will steer clear of their still-prosperous region. Reports indicate that some Catalan separatists may be ready to dump their leader.

The king considers that he has no choice but to defend the rule of law. He swore loyalty to the 1978 Spanish constitution which defines the “indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation”. It was a constitution drawn up to address the wounds of the Spanish civil war and the decades of authoritarian misrule. King Felipe thus talks — and will talk again today — of the need to uphold the rule of law.

This is an uncontroversial statement of the royal mission. It is easy to see, too, that the Catalan arguments for a breakaway state are not necessarily in the interests of the region, let alone the broader prosperity of the Spanish nation. Yet the government of Mariano Rajoy has struck the wrong tone. Mr Puigdemont is being faced with a choice between exile and returning to face arrest. His career has thus been deemed to be over by Madrid.

To underline the point Spanish police have twice searched the private jet of Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, in Barcelona airport, fearing that Mr Puigdemont may have been smuggled back to Catalonia. Spain does not gain in dignity or security by this absurd pantomime. And its narrow interpretation of the law does not address what is essentially a political problem — the limits and possibilities of autonomy within the contours of a centralised state.

The government’s imprisonment of pro-independence activists was plainly excessive, sending a grim message to civil society. The use of pre-trial detention has raised questions among civil rights organisations across Europe. The equation of the separatist debate with sedition is a challenge to freedom of expression. All these issues are also components of the “rule of law” which King Felipe considers so central to modern democratic Spain.

The king is popular in Spain and should use his visit to listen to the Catalans. The country has become so fixated on a potential break-up, from the Basqueland to Catalonia, that it has become the prime European Union blocker to other states seeking independence, such as Kosovo. Behaviour designed to demonstrate principle in fact betrays a lack of self-confidence.

Spain should allow Mr Puigdemont and other leaders to return and enter a dialogue with the Madrid government and the other autonomous regions of Spain. The narrow majority for independence in the regional parliament suggests that there will be no immediate surge of support for a breakaway state. Madrid should take the risk and learn to talk more about pluralism than sedition.

 

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Week ending February 25

 

132 days with political prisoners

 

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Image of the week

 

Missing image: From spain square.

 

Missing image: "... to Republic Square"

 

February 24: In the the central industrial city of Manresa (capital of Bages county), pro-independence left organisations--People's Unity List (CUP), Committee for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), Arran, Endavant, the Student Union of the Catalan Lands (SEPC) and Poble Lliure, plus the Catalan National Assembly (ANC)--replace the place name Spain Square with that of Republic Square. The CUP councilors on Manresa council will move that it approve the change at its next meeting.

 

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Main events, February 19-25

 

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• February 25: Catalan National Assembly (ANC) annual conference held in Barcelona, with 2000 delegates in attendance.

• February 25: (El Nacional) Barcelona doesn't forgive king Felipe for his "Go get 'em" speech

• February 25: (VilaWeb) King’s Barcelona trip sparks separatist protest

• February 25: London Committee for the Defence of the Republic distributes 6000 yellow ribbons in solidarity with trainer Pep Guardiola to Manchester City fans before their team's 3-0 victory over Arsenal in the League Cup. Guardiola is to face a sanction from the Football Association for wearing a yellow ribbon in solidarity with Catalan political prisoners.

• February 25: Spanish government spokepeople claim that Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent and Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau are putting the Mobile World Congress at risk by refusing to attend the official inauguration.

• February 25: King Felipe, in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, greeted by demonstrators outside the Palace of Music chanting "out with the Borbon!" and the deafening playing of the Republican anthem from a nearby balcony. Earlier in the day a unionist demonstration in support of "Tabarnia" is also held.

 

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Comment (Jordi Barbeta)

 

Unity of pro-sovereignty forces or finis Cataloniae¹

 

jordi-barbeta-sergi-alcazar-01_1_630x630.jpeg

 

Jordi Barbeta (commentator for El Nacional, formerly Washington correspondent of La Vanguardia)
El Nacional, February 25

 

The difficulties the pro-sovereignty majority is having reaching an agreement over the presidential investiture and governance of Catalonia reveals that the groups that make it up still have as their priority winning the battle for hegemony over this political space. They also do not realise that the country long ago tuned out from their narrowly party-political battle.

 

It seems as if the leaders of Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) can’t flick the switch to realising that they are only partial ingredients of one single social movement that goes well beyond being a stew of logos. If they do not assume their responsibilities, they will inevitably go down in history as a gang of unfortunates who will have brought the country to the worst of all possible ruins—moral ruin.

It produces a lot of desolation in the citizens when, during full bombardment of Catalan institutions, the negotiations struggle in the pro-sovereignty camp is over control of those spheres of regional government that are most profitable from the patronage and propaganda points of view. That means that despite an in extremis agreement to avoid further elections any government based on mutual rivalry and mistrust will be an inefficient and ineffective tool for getting the country back on its feet.

This was already visible in the previous legislature when even the conversations among members of the same parliamentary group were recorded so as to serve as an electoral weapon against internal rivals². One day it will be explained that the October 1 referendum came about as it did because those responsible for carrying it out were a secret group of citizens authorised by the president but not known to the cabinet.

Hostilities resumed the day after October 1, and it seems unbelievable that the lesson of October 27 has not been learned. Then everyone preferred to call elections and hold off on a declaration of independence that was insufficiently prepared and yet on both sides people were forced to do the opposite of what they wanted, only to end up paying the price of jail and exile.

In spite of the vain efforts of their leaders, neither JxCat nor ERC will again achieve anything of relevance without each other. Repeating elections would fragment the movement for sovereignty, deliver regional government to a coalition led by Citizens and leave the prisoners and exiles abandoned and without hope. This is so obvious that, before tossing each other into the abyss, the two groups will probably reach, or fake, a minimum agreement so as not to lose what little regional government power remains.

 

Unfortunately, however, the priority of the new government will be both administration and resistance. The circumstances are so difficult and the attacks are, and will be, so brutal that they will require the strongest and boldest Catalan government in history, and this will only be possible if it is based on the seamless unity of the pro-sovereignty movement as a whole.

In ideal conditions, i.e., in a political situation restored to normality, it would always be better if Catalan society could express itself in all its diversity: pro-sovereignty forces of the right or left, religious or lay, supporters of the tram or the Black Locomotive³ could defend their projects separately, looking for the majority support that would let them implement their ideology. However, the current political state of affairs has nothing ideal or normal about it: it is an emergency situation requiring the adoption of exceptional measures. What is at stake is not which group or party exercises hegemony within the pro-sovereignty bloc, but whether the pro-sovereignty bloc as a whole can continue to lead the country or be instead forced to yield to the movement for Spanish state sovereignty, made up by the parties that have supported the application of article 155.

From this point of view, supporters of sovereignty have no choice but to close ranks, forget the logos and row together in the same direction. Not only so as to run the Generalitat [Catalan government] but the town councils too. If they go united to the municipal elections next year, the pro-sovereignty forces will probably win Barcelona, ​​the main capitals and the vast majority of municipalities: if they are divided, the pro-Spanish state majority is likely to control the main cities of the country. And the local media would then go back to publishing articles like that of Carles Sentís in 1939, headed Finis Cataloniae.

The political unity of ideologically diverse groups is always difficult and unstable, but the best times of self-government have been those led by broadly-based movements. What was the Republican Left of Macià, Companys, Lluhí and Tarradellas if not that⁴? Or Pujol’s Convergence², a majority from Pedralbes to Martorell, from Tortosa to Puigcerdà?

 

JxCat, PDECat² ERC, CUP⁵, the Catalan National Assembly, Òmnium Cultural ... these are component parts of a much less heterogeneous movement than the Democratic Party of the United States. That could be checked out if they were to carry out primaries and a convention. In a sovereign national conference of pro-sovereignty forces all would be, from the outset, republicans.

 

Footnotes

 

1. "The End of Catalonia" (Latin), title of an article on the arrival of the Francoist troops in Barcelona on January 26, 1939.

 

2. A reference to the internal culture of the parliamentary caucus of the ruling pro-independence Together for the Yes (JxSí) coalition, which brought together the right-nationalist Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC)--later relaunched as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECat)--ERC and non-aligned supporters of independence.

 

3. A reference to the current polemic in Barcelona on whether or not to join up the city's two separate tram networks with a line down the central Diagonal. The Black Locomotive is a Terrassa-based jazz band. The meaning of the reference is therefore something like "or whatever".

 

4. ERC was founded in 1931 and brought together Catalan State (of president-to-be Francesc Macià), the Catalan Republican Party of Macià's successor Lluís Companys and the Opinion group of Joan Lluhí. Josep Tarradellas, who was to become president of the Generalitat after its restoration in 1977, was general secretary of ERC at its founding.

 

5. The anti-capitalist People's Unity List.

 

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• February 24: (El Nacional) Finland's Catalan consul sacked, after Spanish pressure on independence issue

• February 24: (El Nacional) Spanish colonel who led Catalan referendum clampdown is made a general.

• February 24: Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent and Barcelona mayoress Ada Colau will boycott inauguration of Mobile World Congress, held every year in Barcelona, because of the presence of Spanish king Felipe. They will not, however, boycott the congress dinner.

 

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Interview with leading Spanish constitutionalist Javier Pérez Royo

 

'Democracy in Spain is under de facto suspension'

 

NacioDigital, February 23

 

Missing image: Javier Perez Royo

 

Javier Pérez Royo (Sevilla, 1944) is a constitutional jurist and professor at the University of Seville, where he was vice-chancellor between 1988 and 1992. He graduated from the University of Tübingen and the Planck Institute of Comparative Law of Heidelberg. He explains his position on the conflict between the Spanish government and legal system and the Catalan pro-independence movement in this interview with NacióDigital, done after Pérez Royo took part in the XIII Conference of the Ernest Lluch Foundation on Democracy, Legality and Legitimacy.

 

Do you maintain that there has been no Constitution in Catalonia since 2010?

 

That’s exactly how it is. The [2010] ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Statute¹ destroys the Constitution as guarantor of territorial relations inasmuch as that rests on two pillars: the agreement between the parliament of Catalonia and the Spanish parliament and the referendum of the citizens of Catalonia on that agreement. The Constitutional Court ruling overrides the agreement and does not recognise the referendum. As of that moment, Catalonia is without a Constitution.

 

You are very critical of all the legal argumentation against the Catalan pro-sovereign leaders facing trial. Do you think judge [Pablo] Llarena is distorting reality?

 

What I think is that there is a pile of irregularities here. The crimes of rebellion and sedition imply a violent uprising and here this has not occurred. The movement involved is peaceful. It’s not just me saying this: the great majority of criminal law professionals think likewise. Next, the legal body that should have dealt with this case is not the one hearing it. The complaint against the members of the Catalan government should have been brought before the Provincial Court of Barcelona and then, in any case, there could have been an appeal to the Supreme Court. Going directly to the National High Court or the Supreme Court skips the Catalan phase and means violating the right to first and second instance. A criminal trial always implies the right to double instance.

 

It is clear there is no crime of rebellion.

 

There is no crime of rebellion. Now they’re looking for evidence. But if you are looking for evidence it’s clear there is no crime of rebellion. Afterwards one can investigate the plot that might have been behind it, something that they didn’t want to do with 23F, with Tejero’s coup². But the offense has to have occurred. If Tejero had not entered the Congress pistol in hand there would have been no rebellion. That’s why they have to withdraw the European arrest warrant, because they can’t say to a Belgian or Danish judge that a rebellion has taken place.

Do you think that President Puigdemont did the right thing in going to Belgium?

 

Puigdemont is following a political strategy. The legal strategy is subordinate to the political. Whether it was good or bad is a matter for him, he has to make his own calculation. The same goes for Anna Gabriel in Switzerland. It is another step forward in the internationalisation of the conflict.

What do you think about the court investigation of the former head of the Mossos [Catalan police]?³

 

I know less about this particular case. What I do believe is that treating the independence process as a question of law is a monstrosity, a failure of politics. But I don’t have information about the investigation that is being carried out in Mr Trapero's case. In general, it seems to me to be a nonsense.

Will, paradoxically, the fate of the independence movement decide the fate of Spanish democracy?

 

Yes, because if there is no democracy in Catalonia, there isn’t any in Spain either.

 

At the moment, do you think that democracy is under suspension in Catalonia?

 

As things stand, yes. Also in Spain. Democracy in Spain is under de facto suspension. The Constitution is de facto suspended, as well as the normal operation of the Constitution. We have a [Spanish] legislature where neither laws nor budgets are passed⁴.

Do you trust in a reform of the Constitution?

Absolutely not. I can tell you, there will be no reform. Look, what we have here is that the principle of democratic legitimacy gets conditioned and put in a strait-jacket by the monarchical principle. But the principle of democratic legitimacy gets carried out in freedom, not in captivity.

 

So the monarchic principle keeps democracy in capitivity in Spain?

 

Yes, yes. Democracy is strait-jacketed by the monarchical principle. It sets conditions on it.

From a constitutional point of view, did King Philip VI exceed his brief with his speech [against the Catalan independence movement and government] on October 3?

Completely. I’ve already described it as an unmitigated disaster. It was a speech unbecoming the king of a parliamentary monarchy. He put article 1.3 of the Constitution before 1.2, the monarchy above the national sovereignty being in the hands of the Spanish people, from which the institutions of the State emanate. You can’t make a political speech like this. The Spanish monarchy is defined as a parliamentary, but it is not.

Is this one of the fundamental problems of the Spanish constitutional system?

It is. The monarchical principle intervenes where it shouldn’t.

 

Here we come to an issue you have written about very recently, that of corruption. Will the corruptions scandals be the end of the PP?

I think so. The PP will disappear. “PP” cannot be the eternal acronym of the Spanish right wing. I’ve been saying so for some time. It is an acronym for rottenness and the barrier that it is setting up between the PP and Spanish society will be its downfall. The days of collusion are over. Without the silence of Luis Bárcenas and Francisco Correa, Mariano Rajoy would not have remained prime minister.⁵

So his days as PM are now over?

Mr. Rajoy has stayed in office thanks to a criminal conspiracy. In January 2012, the Swiss courts made available to their Spanish counterpart the information it had about Bárcenas’s accounts in Switzerland. And it was Bárcenas's appeal against the legal decision [to hand this information over] that delayed the delivery of the documentation for two years. That delay allowed Rajoy to stay in power. If the Bárcenas papers had been delivered in January 2012, when Rajoy had been in government for only weeks, he would not have been able to hold out. But it’s all over now. Now we have Bigotes singing La Traviata⁶. The PP will not survive.

How can the rise of Citizens affect the evolution of the conflict?

Citizens can speed up the process of the PP’s fall.

But as regards the resolution of the conflict with Catalonia?

As far as Catalonia is concerned, Citizens started off worse than the PP⁷. Now, Citizens does not know what it is. It has used anti-Catalanism as a banner, and also launches attacks against the Basque Country. But if it came into the government, it would discover that the Basque Country exists, Catalonia exists, and have to face up to that. As for its ideological baggage, it doesn't look good. But Citizens remains an unknown. We know what the PP is and that it was very hard for it to achieve power following the UCD’s defeat.⁸ The PP won the elections in 1996. Can the PP’s power be shifted to Citizens? Some of it maybe, but these handovers do not happen very quickly.

 

You studied at the German university of Tübingen and at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, highly prestigious institutions. What did you learn there that is not yet known in Spain?

I got my training as a constitutionalist in Germany. I learned a lot. I think about the very rich content of that training. In the other branches of law, comparative law has only a relative weight, but in constitutionalism, comparative law is fundamental--we have to see what happens here in light of how other democracies work. For someone trained in Germany, it is clear that a democratic culture is lacking in Spain. I think that Spain is the country in Western Europe that came latest to democracy. Everything that is happening now is not an accident.

 

Footnotes

 

1. In 2010 the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled on an appeal by the PP against the constitutionality of the 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy, agreed to by both the Catalan and Spanish parliaments and endorsed by referendum in Catalonia. The PP appealed against 128 of the Statute's 223 articles. The court found 14 articles unconstitutional. Most importantly, it ruled that the Statute could not describe Catalonia as a nation.

 

2. On the February 23, 1981 (23F) Civil Guards under the leadership of Antonio Tejero occupied the Spanish congress as part of a failed military coup attempt. The full story of the attempt is still to emerge.

 

3. Major Josep Lluís Trapero, head of the Catalan police at the time of the Barcelona and Cambrils terrorist attacks in August 2017, is presently being investigated by the National High Court for his potential complicity in the October 1 referendum.

 

4. The Rajoy government has been unable to pass the 2017 Spanish budget because of the refusal of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) to honour a deal to support it while the article 155 intervention in Catalonia is still in place.

5. Luis Barcenas, former PP treasurer found to have a €43 million account in Switzerand. Francisco Correa, organiser of the Gürtel network for awarding busnesses public works contracts in exchange for payments to the PP.

6. Álvaro Pérez Alonso, known at "the moustache" (El Bigotes) is a Valencian businessman involved in the Gürtel case. He last week asked in court why the husband of defence minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal, had not been charged with any corruption offence, the "singing of La Traviata"  referred to by Pérez Royo.

7. Citizens began life as a movement against Catalan being the language of instruction in the Catalan education system.

8. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) was the party with which former Franco minister Adolfo Suárez won the 1977 general elections, the first after the end of the Franco dictatorship. Suárez repeated his success in the 1979 elections, but the party was effectively wiped out by the 1982 landslide victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). It took 14 years for the conservative side of Spanish politics to reconstitute a party (the PP) and win a national election (in 1996).

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• February 23: Snap protest by Committees in Defence of the Republic (CDR) in support of Catalan political prisoners leads to arrests of 14.

• February 23: Former head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, appears before the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) to answer as to his role leading up to the October 1 referendum and denies supporting the project. The Spanish state prosecutor demands that he be released on the payment of €50,000 in bail, but judge Carmen Lamela imposes no conditions on Trapero.

• February 23: (The Guardian) FA charges Pep Guardiola over Catalonia yellow ribbon.

• February 23: At the annual meeting of the College of Lawyers of Barcelona Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent says: "It is necessary to denounce the existence of political prisoners, accused of rebellion and sedition for non-existent crimes. More than 100 university professors of penal law in the [Spanish] State have pointed out the serious disproportion between these preventive measures and the error of attributing these crimes." Leading Catalan and Spanish legal figures, including the chief justice of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, walk out in protest at Torrent's words. Video of moment here.

• February 23: Latest Catalan Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO) poll gives paradoxical result of increase in support for pro-independence parties combined with decline in support for independence. Spanish PM Rajoy celebrates the latter trend. The poll also shows that 54.9% favour continuing with the independence process.

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Comment

The right to stop children from learning … Catalan

Missing image: Marcal Sintes.

Marçal Sintes, El Món, February 21

Thankfully, the Constitutional Court has struck down the so-called “Wert¹ scholarships”, so baptised in reference to one of the worst--and that’s saying a lot—People’s Party (PP) ministers. In addition to being a very bad minister, Wert displayed bar-room manners that were hard to match—all that was missing was the toothpick in the open mouth. He is also a Spanish-patriotic fanatic, which, by contrast, doesn’t make him very much different from his other colleagues.

In his day, this head of education (!) pulled out of his sleeve the idea that if a family wanted to stop their progeny from learning Catalan, the Spanish government had no choice but to help out with all the means at its disposal. He therefore decreed that the family in question could send their son or daughter, with all expenses paid, to a good private school in Castilian (Spanish), where the ears of the child would not be subjected to the horrible sounds of the language of Ausiàs March².

It was all about guaranteeing the alleged right of parents to stop their children from learning Catalan. Hardly surprisingly, it didn´t occur to them to apply this same right in relation to, for example, Spanish, English, mathematics or chemistry.

It doesn’t matter that education in Catalan has been working for decades and has given and continues to gives very valuable results socially. It doesn’t matter that children schooled in Catalan have better marks for Spanish than, for example, those in the Community of Madrid. It doesn´t matter that scientific research has shown the advantages of bilingualism for cognitive development. It doesn’t matter that Catalan is a vulnerable language--all Catalans speak Spanish, not all Catalans speak Catalan - needing definite protection.

The charm of Wert’s plan was that the bill from the Spanish-language private school would be paid neither by the family opposed to Catalan nor by the Spanish government, but by Catalan taxpayers as a whole. Six thousand euros per child. This aberration went ahead with the support of [Spanish prime minister Mariano] Rajoy—one more addition to the dung heap of offences that have led more than two million Catalans to conclude that it would be better for them if they had a state of their own.

The background to this mentality consists of a string of diverse and ancient beliefs that seem to me to explain the repeated, persistent and obsessive attacks on Catalan.

One of them is that Catalan is a second-rate tongue, a kind of patois, not “exactly” a language like the rest of “normal” languages. Another is that Catalan has a lot of bluff about it, that it is sustained artificially, if not—as is said by ignorant and/or malicious Spanish-patriotism--by imposition. The third belief states that the Catalans are essentially people to whom too many concessions have been made. From this colonialist perspective that befogs everything, the dominated are not only ungrateful but also insolent. And the fourth and last belief: it is understood that speaking Catalan may promote love of the country, of the people and of the culture on the part of those who are dominated. Our language would thus contain a subversive component, a virus, which can’t and shouldn’t be tolerated. Something, moreover, to be wiped out by whatever means.

If not now, later on. But however it can be done.

Footnotes

1. José Ignacio Wert was education minister in the Rajoy government from 2011 to 2015 and notorious for his 2012 statement that one of the purposes of his Basic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality, known as the Wert Law, was to "hispanicise Catalan students and make them as proud of being Spaniards as of being Catalans".

2. The Valencian Ausiàs March (1397-1459) was the leading poet of his day, His lyric verse, written in Catalan, also influenced poets writing in Castilian. The sarcastic phrase "horrible sounds of the language of Ausiàs March" would sound to Catalan readers like "horrible sounds of the language of Shakespeare".

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• February 22: Civil Guard searches, for the second time in five days, the private plane of Manchester City trainer Pep Guardiola at Barcelona's Prat airport, looking for Carles Puigdemont.

• February 22: Pensioner demonstrations in 40 centres in the Spanish state against "pensions of misery" and the financial threats to the pensions system (see demonstration below in Bilbao).

Missing image: PEnsioner demonstration, Bilbao, February 22, 2018.

• February 22: (El Nacional) Update on state of negotiations over forming Catalan government.

• February 22: Amnesty International's 2017-2018 annual report condemns Spanish police violence on October 1 and preventive jailing of Catalan politicians and social movement leaders.

• February 22: Madrid mayoress Manuela Carmena boycotts the opening of ARCO in protest against the banning of artwork "Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain". King Felipe and his wife Letizia attend.

• February 22: In a tweet exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont highlights a selection of the right-wing Madrid media's descriptions of exiled CUP leader Anna Gabriel (examples; "fat", "flabby", "filthy", "sweaty", "needs desodorant", "full of fleas", "donkey", "scummy"). Puigdemont:  "Journalistic sexism and intellectual destitution -- embodiment of fascistic decadence."

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Comment

The judge's decision on Anna Gabriel: prudent or absurd?

Gemma Liñán (El Nacional), February 21

Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has issued an arrest warrant for Anna Gabriel. He's done part of what VOX¹ and the public prosecution had asked him for, but has stopped halfway between prudence and ridicule. Currently the arrest warrant is meaningless, because it only applies in Spanish territory and it's clear that Gabriel, who this Wednesday ignored a summons to the Supreme Court, as she had announced she would, has no plans to set foot back in Spain. She's in Geneva, working on her defence, and even she doesn't know when she'll be able to return. She's waiting for them close the case to do so. And it's clear that she's not going to take any risks.

Almost all the pro-independence leaders who have been charged and/or investigated and have testified to the Supreme Court have ended up in prison or having to post bail to avoid it. The only ones saved bail have been Mireia Boya, former CUP deputy, Neus Lloveras, former president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence; Marta Pascal, PDeCAT's general coordinator, and former president Artur Mas. Legal sources had already been suggesting that charging them didn't make sense because none of them played any role in preparing the referendum for 1st October last year.

In Gabriel's case, however, things are different. "They have it in for her," defence sources say. And as such they prepared a strategy which ended up bursting Spanish justice's bubble. Not without the public prosecutor's annoyance, who, in their request for Gabriel to be arrested and imprisoned, they criticise Llarena for letting her escape on 14th February, the day she was originally summonsed for. Her lawyer, Benet Salellas had asked for a postponement, giving Gabriel some leeway and more time and, at the same time, avoiding harming Boya's strategy, who was able to testify before Gabriel announced she was in Switzerland.

Llarena didn't want to make a fool of himself issuing an international arrest warrant and asking for extradition. But instead he's ended up doing so by activating an arrest warrant for a country that everyone knows Anna Gabriel doesn't plan to come to for months.

Backtracking thrice

Gabriel is now in the same situation as president Carles Puigdemont and ministers Toni Comín, Clara Ponsatí, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig, who settled in Belgium after the declaration of independence. They can travel anywhere, except Spain. This was seen when Puigdemont went to Copenhagen, where, despite the public prosecution asking for a new European Arrest Warrant, Llarena backtracked.

The judge doesn't want European justice to leave the Spanish system in bad standing. That's why he withdrew the European Arrest Warrant when everything in Belgium seemed to be indicating that they wouldn't accept all parts of the extradition requests against Puigdemont and his fellow ministers.

This means Llarena has now backed down three times: revoking the extradition request sent to Belgium, not reactivating it when Puigdemont went to Copenhagen and now not asking for a new international arrest warrant in Switzerland for Anna Gabriel. A hat-trick.

The judge's idea is to end the investigation phase and clearly define the charges so that when he writes the order to start the trial he can then request extradition. This was meant to happen in April, but could be put back a whole year, if the case is declared to be "complex" as the public prosecutor asks, giving more time for the investigation.

Another year of investigation

Another year of tricky legal decisions for Llarena, who has hurt his relationship with the public prosecutors, who is under ever more pressure from the Spanish government and whom VOX, who have brought a private acusación popular action in the case, have put between a rock and a hard place by now asking him to call prime minister Mariano Rajoy to testify. All of this raises tensions even further and distances any possibility of negotiation.

Another year with four people in prison and six more in exile.

Translation: El Nacional

Footnotes

1. Vox is a right wing, Spanish-chauvinist political party, which has constituted itself as a popular prosecutor in the Supreme Court investigation of Catalan political and social movement leaders. Unlike the law in English-speaking countries, where criminal charges are brought only by a government prosecutor, Spanish law allows ordinary citizens and organisations to pursue criminal actions by filing criminal complaints.Their prosecution falls into two categories: if a victim files a complaint directly with an instructing or investigating judge, the victim becomes a party to the case during the investigation and trial phases, a status known as a private prosecution (acusación particular). Spanish law also allows people not directly connected to an alleged crime to take part in a case if they can prove public interest. Public interest groups and political parties often join these complaints as popular prosecutors (acusadores populares) as a way of dramatising their commitment to a political cause, with organisations both left and right taking advantage of the institution. In the case of VOX, the point is to demand an even tougher stance from Supreme Court judge Llarena against the Catalan enemies of the sancrosanct unity of Spain (see its web site featuring the antics of their lawyer here).

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• February 21: On the submission of  José Alfredo Bea Gondar, the former mayor of O Grove (Pontevedra, Galicia), judge Alejandra Pontana orders the withdrawal from sale of all copies of the book Fariña, which deals with drug-trafficking and its relation to politics in Galicia.

• February 21: The organisers of the Madrid Show (Ifema) order the withdrawal of an artwork of Santiago Sierra called "Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain", showing pixellated portraits of the four Catalan political prisoners as well as other detainees, from their International Festival of Contemporary Art (ARCO). See Ara's commment on these two events and the jailing of rap artist Valtònyc here.

• February 21: (El Nacional)  Interview with jailed JxCat leader Jordi Sànchez: "Puigdemont's legitimacy is preserved, the Moncloa won't dictate the investiture"

• February 21: BBC does interview with jailed Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras

• February 21: (El Nacional) Belgian Parliament blocks Puigdemont's appearance

• February 21: Spanish prosecutor-general asks Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena to issue an international arrest warrant for CUP leader Anna Gabriel, presently in Geneva. Llarena so far only issues order for Gabriel's arrest if she returns to Spain.

• February 21: Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy welcomes delegates from the International Democratic Union, grouping together centre-right parties. He thanks them for their opposition to "illegal and unilateral separatism" and notes that no country in the world gave recognition to the October 1 referendum, an "affront to law and democracy".

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Snapshot

Anna Gabriel, heroine of the CUP

Enric Vila, El Nacional, February 20

Missing image: CUP leader Anna Gabriel, interviewed by Swiss public television

CUP leader Anna Gabriel, during her interview by Swiss public television

When I think about Anna Gabriel, what comes to mind is my female friends from the elite school in Barcelona's Eixample district where I studied my batxillerat, the post-16 qualification in Catalonia. That school is now semi-private but in my day it was one of the most expensive, most prestigious and most patriotic in the city. My female friends all had their hair like Gabriel, in the abertzale style typical of left-wing female Basque nationalists. They wore long-sleeved t-shirts under short-sleeved ones with drawings and slogans printed on them and listened to groups who sang things like "era un hombre, ahora es poli" (He was a man, now's he's a cop).

Sometimes, these friends would argue with their cheeks lit up with passion and would call me old-fashioned because I didn't fully agree with their communist ideas. Sometimes they would invite me to their houses and make me wash the dishes to show they were liberated. I don't know if they've voted for CUP. Some friends of both genders who then wanted the revolution lost hope over the years and fell away from politics.

Gabriel studied in a state school and has always defended them. When she was 16 years old she started to be active in the Plataforma Antifeixista (Antifascist Platform) and in Agrupament Roques Albes, a youth club in her town. From that moment she hasn't reduced her ideals even a jot. Her paternal grandfather emigrated from Huelva, in Andalusia, to work a mine in Sallent; her mother was born to a family in the town which had first-hand experience of the great moment of libertarian communism in Spain.

In 1934, during revolts by mine workers in Súria and Sallent, one of Gabriel's great-grandfathers went into the town square and burnt all his money, convinced that the capitalist system was on the point of disappearing. Irene Polo, one of the first female Catalan journalists, reported on the revolt, giving an idea of the poverty, the exploitation and the idealism which marked the lives of some towns around Catalonia in the last century. When Gabriel was young and being looked after by her grandmother from Murcia whilst her mother worked, the journalist was a heroine who made waves among Sallent's youth.

Gabriel is a professor of Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona with a degree in Social Education, but her family has seen poverty and cases of illiteracy, as well as political passion. The CUP deputy is the daughter of a tradition which was buried after the Spanish Civil War and which has re-emerged as the last layers of Francoism have broken with the imperfect transition to democracy.

Unlike some party colleagues, or some of those teenage friends, Gabriel's revolutionary spirit was learnt at home. Neither the t-shirts nor the ideas, nor that razor fringe which hardens her face, are a way to kill her parents, or to escape from some complex; they're an old family mandate. That gives her a consistency you can't learn or buy anywhere, and gives something beyond the fact she has forged her vocation from the ground up, which always gives for strength.

In 2002, Gabriel was part of CUP's founding core in Sallent. Between 2003 and 2007, she was a town councillor, as her mother had been in the times of PSUC, an old Catalan communist party, banned during the Franco era. In opposition, she fought with people from PSC and Convergència over the management of the mine's waste, which has a very important presence in the life of the town. She also learnt the extent to which fear of losing one's job influences political decisions and techniques.

In 2009 Gabriel resigned from CUP's national secretariat, despite being the candidate with the most votes, to "open a debate about internal democracy". Also at that time she renounced a job as a civil servant to not have to take time away from her dedication to the party and the town.

In 2013, after a decade in local politics, she went over to coordinating CUP's group in the Parliament. There she became familiar with how the Chamber works and saw from closer up how the game of politics is able to soften the convictions of the most committed characters, with all the media focus and pressures. For this work she had to put her academic career and her doctoral thesis to one side. But the sacrifice had its reward. In the 2015 election, Gabriel was put as the second name on CUP's electoral list behind Antonio Baños, who didn't take long resigning.

As leader of the parliamentary group, Gabriel immediately overwhelmed memories of the good legacies her predecessors had left to become the charismatic face of the CUP. The determination she showed to assert her party to prevent Artur Mas from becoming president again earned her many detractors, but set the bases for a prestige which, since that time, hasn't stopped growing. To the example of courage and coherence she has given from the beginning, in a country of politicians who can't withstand pressure, have to be added first-class, spontaneous, elegant and genuine oratory.

Respectful and learned in debates, Gabriel keeps her standards of the good manners appropriate of the most civilised capitalist societies much higher than many colleagues of her profession. This ability is important to maintain the leadership in a party like CUP, which has a great deliberative culture but which only gives in by conviction, never in the transactions which conventional parties make. It's also important in a political circus which tends to turn women into simple spokespeople of intransigent positions in the most adverse contexts.

I'm told that Gabriel has no personal ambitions, that she's never been above sweeping up in her town's community association. If I look at photographs of her, I see a classic woman of the country, with that maternal beauty of long-suffering and perfectionist Catalans, used to living without frills. I also see in her a politician with a strong wish for power in order to make changes, who has rid herself of the typical complexes of the country and who never makes a move which doesn't make sense for her path.

Without her Machiavellian toughness, the 1st October referendum wouldn't have been held. She was the first to talk about self-determination when other politicians were still speaking about the right to decide and nobody pushed Puigdemont more in promoting the referendum, when his Junts pel Sí needed CUP's support to pass its budget. It was to be predicted that the Spanish state would pursue her and it's also easy to foresee that she will defend herself like a lion, from her exile. Probably more forcefully and with more bad blood than Puigdemont. Rajoy has made himself a difficult enemy.

Translation: El Nacional

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• February 20: (El Nacional) The responsibilities President Puigdemont will have.

• February 20:  The Supreme Court confirms the sentence of three and a half years jail for the rap artist Valtònyc, found guilty of the crimes of glorification of terrorism and grave insults and slanders of the Spanish Crown. 

• February 20: The speakership panel of the Catalan parliament, on the basis of an agreement between JxCat and ERC, refers the changes in investiture legislation that would allow investiture of a president in absentia to the parliament's legal counsel.

• February 20: Former Catalan premier Artur Mas and Neus Lloveras, former president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), appear before Supreme Court judge Llarena, but are not detained or required to lodge bail.

• February 20: CUP media conference explains the organisation's full support for the decision of former MP Anna Gabriel to stay in Switzerland, not appear before the Spanish Supreme Court and seek political asylum if the Spanish authorities issue a European arrest warrant demanding her extradition. CUP spokesperson Benet Salellas said that Gabriel would take part in the internationalisation of the campaign against the Spanish government and llegal system.

• February 20: The Constitutional Court unanimously upholds the appeal of the Catalan government against the Basic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality (LOMCE, known as the Wert Law after the PP education minister who introduced it), because its most notorious provisions--such as requiring the Catalan government to pay €6000 to families wanting their children educated privately in Castilian (Spanish)--infringe the prerogatives of regional government in the area of education.

• February 20: Anna Gabriel, former CUP MP and leader of major CUP affiliate Endavant, announces from Switzerland that she will not be appearing before the Spanish Supreme Court. She tells the Geneva-based daily Le Temps that "as I would not have a fair trial back in Spain, I have chosen a country where my rights can be protected."

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Snapshot (The National, Scotland)

No heating in Catalan minister Joaquim Forn's prison cell

Greg Russell, February 20

Missing image: Deposed Catalan interrior minister Joaquim Forn

Joaquim Forn is facing possible charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds

A deposed Catalan minister who has been in jail without trial for four months is spending his days reading in a freezing cell without heat or hot water.